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Boston paramedic admits stealing painkillers from ambulances

Brian Benoit, 43, pleaded guilty today to stealing morphine, fentanyl, lorazepam, and midazolam from Boston EMS ambulances and drug boxes for three months in 2011 to feed his addiction to painkillers, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Benoit, was indicted in 2012, pleaded guilty to one count of larceny over $250 by continuing scheme for the theft of the drugs from more than 100 vials and syringes and 17 counts of manufacturing, distributing, or possessing a counterfeit controlled substance for substituting those medications with saline or other lookalike substances.

In some cases, he replaced the substances he used with an inert substance, and in other cases he wrote off medications he used for himself as wasted - drawn for a patient but discarded before injection.

Judge Christine Roach agreed with prosecutors to sentence him to seven years of probation, in exchange for agreeing to never work as an EMT and that he not seek any job where controlled substances might be present without a court's approval - and not at all over the next three years.

[DA Dan] Conley credited one of Benoit’s co-workers, who disclosed concerns about the defendant’s erratic behavior and possible drug abuse, and a rapid response by the Boston Public Health Commission and Boston EMS for the fact that no patient suffered an adverse reaction to any of the substances the defendant altered.

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Comments

Druggie

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Has he been clean for the 4 years since his crime? No wonder so many criminals have outstanding cases when they are busted for yet more offenses, and the RMV is used as the efficient replacement to suspend driving licenses for minor, civil offenses. The courts are plain broken, and neerdowell nephews and nieces of political hacks given jobs in it don't help any!

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When I was a paramedic any narcotics/etc were secured by 1 time use locks with coded numbers. If you had to break a lock, you had to report it to the supervisor, along with what medicine, how much, why it was given, etc. If you started your shift and found a broken one, or the wrong numbered lock, you reported to a supervisor and an investigation was launched if it wasn't already logged by the super.

and in other cases he wrote off medications he used for himself as wasted - drawn for a patient but discarded before injection.

We were not allowed to dispose of waste meds, we had to have a supervisor or charge nurse accept the waste meds so they could confirm the quantity used and the quantity remaining before disposal.

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