http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/jul/02/former-paramedic-supervisor-indicted/

By Teresa Rochester

Posted July 2, 2010 at 6:53 p.m.

A former paramedic supervisor from Fillmore was indicted Friday on charges of tampering with a consumer product by a federal grand jury in connection with the theft of morphine supplies.

John Allen Wilson, 48, who worked for American Medical Response in Ventura, was charged with removing morphine from numerous vials and replacing it with saline. He did so “with reckless disregard for the risk that another person would be placed in danger of death or bodily injury” and under circumstances that caused extreme indifference to the risk, according to the indictment.

In his supervisory role, Wilson had access to all ambulances and AMR’s storage locker, and he restocked medical supplies at fire stations.

“We are not prepared, at this point, to discuss what effect patients may have suffered as a result of the tampered vials of morphine,” U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Thom Mrozek said.

All 11 of the county Fire Department paramedic units ordered new supplies of morphine, Versed and other medications in September of 2008, shortly after AMR received a tip and confronted Wilson.

In an interview with his employer Aug. 29, 2008, Wilson admitted to stealing drugs for about a year from the stocks assigned to his AMR vehicle, other vehicles and a controlled medication area.

According to a 2008 report, written by Emergency Medical Services Authority Chief Nancy Steiner: Wilson “admitted that his use was so great that he had no idea how many vials he had used and tampered with, and could not say definitively if any of the vials containing nothing more than saline had been administered to a patient during a response by an AMR ambulance.”

A clinical education specialist, Wilson had his license revoked Sept. 18, 2008, by state Emergency Medical Services Director Steven Tharratt, according to the state’s Emergency Medical Services Authority records. He was fired from AMR.

Because federal drug laws were involved, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, which also investigated the case, turned it over to the FBI.

The charge Wilson now faces carries a maximum possible penalty of 10 years in federal prison. He will be summoned to appear in federal court for an arraignment later this month.

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/jul/02/former-paramedic-supervisor-indicted/#ixzz13cKvcqWY

- vcstar.com