Police: Local paramedic stole Fentanyl on the job

0
491

HANCOCK COUNTY — A Fishers man employed as a paramedic locally is accused of stealing a highly-addictive painkiller off the ambulances he worked on in order to use the drug on himself, according to court documents.

Jason Howard reportedly wrote a “confession letter” in which he admitted to his bosses and police that he took and tampered with dozens of vials of Fentanyl — a synthetic opioid-based painkiller that is more than 50 times more potent than morphine — that were stored on his Seals Ambulance Services rigs, according to court documents.

Howard, 41, 10128 Boysenberry Dr., took whole vials of Fentanyl; or altered the drug by drawing the liquid out of its vial with a needle and replacing it with saline, court documents state. He then used the medication on himself, according to police.

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]

Howard took or tampered with Fentanyl vials from Seals ambulances, including ones in Fortville and Greenfield, court documents state.

He has been charged in Hancock County of theft and drug possession, records show. He was arrested Monday and booked into the Hancock County Jail.

But police say additional charges could be filed against Howard in other Indiana counties. They believe he might also have stolen drugs from ambulances in Johnson, Hamilton, Marion and Tipton counties as well, according to court documents.

Indiana State Police officers began investigating Howard in May after officials in Greenwood became concerned that someone was stealing Fentanyl from a small safe installed inside a Seals ambulance that is stationed at the city’s fire department.

Detectives interviewed administrators of Seals Ambulance Services, who ordered an audit of all the controlled substances and Fentanyl vials kept on its ambulances statewide.

They found that at least 34 vials of Fentanyl were either taken or tampered with at Seals’ stations in five counties, according to a news release.

Seals is a privately-owned ambulance-service company founded in Hancock County in the 1960s.

It was operated by a Fortville family for nearly 50 years before it was sold recently and became a partner company of the national EMS chain Priority Ambulance. It still operates under the name Seals Ambulance, providing contracted emergency and nonemergency transport services across Central Indiana, according to the company website.

For many years, Seals has been the sole ambulance-service provider to Vernon Township, which encompasses the towns of Fortville and McCordsville. The company also runs ambulances out of a small two-bay station at Hancock Regional Hospital, where its paramedics serve as a back-up to emergency medical services provided by the Greenfield Fire Territory, officials said.

Two compromised vials were found at the Seals station in Fortville, officials said. Nine compromised vials were found at the station in Greenfield, officials said.

Of the compromised Fentanyl vials, many had needled holes in their protective caps and lesser amounts of clear liquid inside them than what was originally intended, court documents state.

In a “confession letter” Howard reportedly signed and dated on May 16, he admitted to stealing and tampering with Fentanyl vials at several ambulance stations across Central Indiana, including those in Fortville and Greenfield, court documents state. He said the thefts occurred over several months, and he would take the drugs at various times, court documents state.

Howard declined to speak with police as part of the investigation, records show. His attorney, Stacy Ambler, did not return a request for comment on this story.

Officials with the Greenfield Fire Territory say they were alerted to the investigation by the Indiana State Police earlier this year.

Greenfield conducted an audit of its own medications and found no Fentanyl vials unaccounted for or tampered with on any of its ambulances or fire engines.

The department has “multilevel protocol in place to secure narcotics,” its leaders said in a statement. The department’s personnel continued to follow these to ensure “we did not end up as victims as well,” they said.

In Hancock County, Howard faces two Level 6 felony counts of possession of narcotics and two Class A misdemeanor counts of theft.

Level 6 felony counts are punishable by up to 2½ years in jail and $10,000 in fines. Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to one year in jail and $5,000 in fines.