Boston EMS Worker Pleads Guilty to Stealing Drugs from Ambulances

By FRANK O’LAUGHLIN (Patch Staff)

A former Boston paramedic admitted Wednesday to stealing an array of painkillers from ambulances back in 2011 in order to feed an addiction, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.

Brian Benoit, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of larceny over $250 by continuing scheme for the theft of morphine, fentanyl, lorazepam, and midazolam 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, the DA’s office says.

Boston Emergency Medical Services employed him as a paramedic between July and September of 2011.

According to prosecutors, Benoit in some cases would replace the drugs he used with an “inert substance,” and other times he wrote off medications he used for himself as “wasted – drawn for a patient but discarded before injection.”

Judge Christine Roach sentenced Benoit to seven years of probation.

“All the parties recognized that this defendant was driven by addiction rather than malice or profit,” District Attorney Daniel Conley said. “But it’s also clear that he had to answer for his actions, which put patients at risk.”

Conley also credited one of Benoit’s co-workers, who he says disclosed concerns about the defendant’s erratic behavior and possible drug abuse.