BOSTON, Aug. 5, 2015—A former paramedic pleaded guilty to stealing drugs intended for use by patients requiring emergency care and using them to feed his addiction to painkillers, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

BRIAN BENOIT (D.O.B. 7/28/72) 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.

Benoit admitted to stealing the medications from ambulances and drug boxes maintained by Boston Emergency Medical Services, which employed him as a paramedic, during a period between July and September 2011. 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.

At the request of Assistant District Attorney Michele Granda, chief of the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit, Judge Christine Roach sentenced Benoit to seven years of probation with the following conditions:

• That he irrevocably resign from Boston EMS
• That he relinquish any certification to practice as an EMT that he may have held in any jurisdiction and not seek recertification as such;
• That he not seek or obtain employment in any environment where controlled medications or substances are present without prior approval of the court, and that he not seek such approval for at least three years;
• That he undergo a substance abuse evaluation and submit to random screens for drug use;
• And that he stay away from Boston EMS and have no contact with its employees except as a patient under emergency circumstances.

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

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. In fact, Granda noted, there was no direct evidence that any Boston EMS patient received an adulterated medication instead of a legitimate one.

Benoit was represented by attorney Kenneth Anderson.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.