EMT TAKES DRUGS FROM CALHOUN AMBULANCES - Director Says Such Theft Unusual

(01/04/2012)

State Police in Roane County says Steven Thomas Mullins, 26, an Emergency Medical Technician who worked for Roane EMS and part-time for Calhoun EMS, took drugs from two ambulances in Calhoun County. Mullins has been charged with over 70 counts related to the tampering and theft of painkillers, the criminal complaint says drugs like morphine and fentanyl had been removed from vials carried on ambulances and replaced with (salt) saline solution. Calhoun EMS Director Josh Johnson said, "We never expect anything like this to happen, but it did." Johnson said he first discovered the tampering the first week in December, 2011, and began an internal investigation, reporting the problem to state officials and the State Police on December 15th. "This is the first time in 15 years we've had a problem in Calhoun," Johnson said. He said he was unaware of the Roane EMS problem at the time. Mullins is in Central Regional Jail on $78,000 bond. Roane County EMS Director Danny Cronin reported to authorities that twenty-nine vials of morphine and fentanyl had been compromised and replaced with saline solution. Cronin said vials had been tampered with in five of six Roane County ambulances. At the time of the initial report, Cronin said, "It is something we take very seriously ... We have an internal investigation going-on at this time." See related story   ROANE MAN CHARGED WITH DRUG THEFTS FROM CALHOUN AND ROANE AMBULANCES

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