The government will recommend a 44-month sentence followed by three years of supervised probation for a Webb City man who tampered with patients' pain medication to feed his own addiction while working on ambulances in Carthage and Mount Vernon.
The recommendation was made in a sentencing memorandum filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. James Poole, 37, is scheduled to be sentenced during an 11 a.m. March 24 sentencing in Springfield.
Poole's crime is described in a plea agreement document filed in September.
On January 23, 2020, officials with Mercy Medical Center in Springfield Missouri, within the Western District of Missouri, contacted the Federal Drug Administration- Office of Criminal Investigation (FDA-OCI) regarding possible tampering that occurred at two of their emergency medical service (EMS) centers in Carthage and Mount Vernon, Missouri.
Mercy Medical Center officials reported that 26 fentanyl and 43 hydromorphine vials appeared to have physical signs of tampering. These vials were turned over to FDA-OCI in Kansas City.
On February 5, 2020, agents with FDA-OCI met with Mercy Hospital officials regarding the tampering investigation. Agents were advised on January 23, 2020, paramedics noticed what appeared to be puncture marks on a fentanyl vial that was being used to administer the pain killing medication to a patient.
Paramedics then reported a second incident in which they drew fentanyl from a vial into a syringe and observed that there was not enough fluid in the vial to administer a dose to the patient.
After receiving both reports, the remaining narcotics in the ambulances and the office stock held at Carthage EMS were examined by officials at Mercy Carthage EMS.
Upon conducting a review, officials observed that the fentanyl and hydromorphine on the ambulances and in the office stock appeared to have visible signs of tampering. The Mount Vernon Mercy EMS facility supplies were also examined since the facility is a sister ambulance location to the Carthage facility with the same paramedics working at both locations.
Officials observed signs of tampering for one Fentanyl vial that were similar to those observed at the Carthage facility.
EMS officials advised that upon finding the tampering, all supervisors and other office personnel who had access to the Carthage EMS office stock were drug tested on the date the tampering was discovered.
In addition, James Poole was also tested, even though he was not a supervisor, because he was on "light duty" due to a prior injury and had access to the narcotics supplies.
The results from the drug tests revealed that Poole was the only employee who tested positive for norfentanyl, an analog of fentanyl. Officials noted that there had not been a previous incident of tampering and all other employees had been with EMS for several years with the exception of Poole, who had recently been hired in June 2019 and had neck surgery in October 2019.
Further, because Poole was on light duty, there were times when he would be in the EMS facility alone and had access to the office in order to complete necessary paperwork without being supervised.
EMS officials told agents that vials from the ambulances and the office had been supervised, so the only people with contact to the narcotics in all locations could have only been the supervisors and Poole.
With the exception of Poole, all the supervisors had been employed with EMS for at least five years and the drug screens for all supervisors came back negative for the presence of any narcotics.
On February 14, 2020, agents with the FDA-OCI made contact with Poole. Agents immediately advised Poole of the nature of their contact with him and Poole agreed to answer questions.
During the interview, Poole claimed not to know about the facts of the tampering investigation, or why he tested positive for nonfentanyl. Poole admitted that he had access to the supervisor's office and could have accessed the narcotics that had been tampered with.
Poole admitted that he was an opioid addict and had been since he was injured in an ambulance accident that occurred in December 2018. Poole advised that he had neck surgery on October 29, 2019 and was taking medication for pain management.
Poole admitted that he did tamper with and steal 50mcg fentanyl on an EMS call that he responded to approximately three weeks, on or about January 1, 2020, before the additional tampering was discovered and he was drug tested.
Poole admitted he documented giving a patient with abdominal pain 100 mcg of fentanyl, but tampered with the dosage by only administering 50 mcg to the patient and pocketing the syringe with the remaining narcotic and injecting himself with the remaining fentanyl after his shift.
