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Former Ind. paramedic pleads guilty to painkiller thefts...
A former part-time Parkview Huntington Hospital paramedic admitted to stealing narcotics from his ambulance and, in some cases, replacing the drugs with saline to avoid detection.
Christopher M. Buckner, 37, of Syracuse, pleaded guilty Tuesday to 11 felony charges, including multiple counts of distribution of a substance represented to be a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and theft. According to court documents, there was no plea agreement with prosecutors.
Buckner admitted to stealing the powerful painkillers Fentanyl, Demerol and morphine, as well as diazepam – known as Valium, according to court documents.
Arrested in December, Buckner tampered with drugs on board the ambulance from June to August, replacing the narcotics with a sterile saline solution that was later administered to patients.
The investigation began in August after Parkview Huntington Hospital officials reported someone may have been tampering with the drug boxes on the ambulances and records about the boxes were altered.
When interviewed by police, Buckner first denied taking the drugs, saying he loved his job and had wanted to be a medic since elementary school but later admitted he was addicted to narcotics, having suffered a back injury that resulted in prescriptions for painkillers.
Buckner later admitted to investigators he would take narcotics out of the drug box whenever he needed to get into the box for legitimate reasons. When he would return to the station, he would go to the bathroom or the sleeping quarters and withdraw the drugs from the vials using a syringe, court documents said.
Buckner also worked full time with North Webster EMS in Kosciusko County.
A similar investigation in North Webster revealed drugs that had been apparently tampered with, but the case was closed because the ambulance service discovered other ambulance services were having the same problem and attributed the seals being broken to a manufacturer defect, court documents said.
According to court documents, hospital records indicated that some of Buckner's patients had “negative responses” to the pain medication they received, and some may have suffered detrimental effects.
After Buckner's arrest, Parkview officials said they had stepped up their procedures to prevent such thefts in the future. Buckner was fired immediately after his admission to investigators.
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