By JOHN F. BERRY
The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA.)
BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. — A judge sentenced a former Big Bear City Fire Department paramedic chief to 16 months in prison on Wednesday for stealing 358 vials of morphine - acts the judge said had endangered the public and violated its trust.
Richard R. Rolston was arrested several days after a Big Bear City paramedic crew noticed on Nov. 4 that several vials of morphine had been tampered with or were missing. An investigation was started immediately.
“Think of the criminal intent one must have to steal from your employer on a daily basis,” San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Robert Law said. “This is what I’m not going to permit in Big Bear. Not acceptable.”
Law predicted that Big Bear would likely see lawsuits from people who thought they were being treated with morphine and were not.
Rolston, 46, declined to comment Wednesday as he left a courtroom in Big Bear Lake. He had thrown himself on the mercy of the court Feb. 7 after pleading guilty to charges of embezzlement and attempted forgery.
A sentencing report said Rolston was the sole controller of the department’s morphine and control logs. It said he kept the books at home and found ways to distract state agents during their audits.
Fernando Leone, Rolston’s attorney, argued for probation because his client has served the area for 26 years.
A sentencing report described Rolston as a selfless public servant, crediting him with bringing, expanding and improving ambulance service in the Big Bear area.
Leone said Rolston’s addiction to morphine stemmed from a painful and chronic form of pancreatitis initially diagnosed in 1998. He said drugs and alcohol left his client in a cloud until Rolston entered rehabilitation last year.
“When you’re in (Alcoholics Anonymous), you wake up,” Leone said. “He had a complete epiphany experience.”
Kris Parde, a deputy district attorney, said Rolston had a mild form of pancreatitis at most. She argued for prison.
“He suggested he would have come clean if he had an amnesty program,” Parde said. “That’s outrageous.”
Law gave Rolston two weeks to organize his affairs before ordering him to surrender to Big Bear court officials May 5.
Outside of the courtroom, Rolston supporters were angry with Mike Paganini, the author of the sentencing report.
“This is the worst miscarriage of justice I have ever seen,” said Marge McDonald, an elected member of the Big Bear City Community Services District, which oversees the Big Bear City Fire Department.
“I explained the facts. You can take the halo off him,” Paganini said.
The document included reports from Big Bear City fire officials as well as Rolston’s doctors.
Rolston claimed to have used expired morphine, but the report said he sometimes used morphine in current stock. He also replaced morphine extracted from the vials with tap water. Some of the morphine was stored in a safe and some vials were on department vehicles.
“Rolston was selfishly playing `Russian Roulette’ with the lives of the community,” the report said. "(Rolston) showed no signs of stopping his criminal behavior.”
The report described Rolston stealing Benadryl, an antihistamine sometimes used to deal with drug withdrawal symptoms, as odd.
“His theft of Benadryl makes no sense,” it said. “It can be readily obtained over-the-counter.”
Big Bear Fire Chief Dana Van Leuven, quoted in the report, described how Rolston stealing Benadryl from a department vehicle interfered with paramedics aiding an asthma patient last fall. He said the needed medication was found in another vehicle.
“The chief believes the situation could have been life-threatening to the patient,” it said. “Patient care was delayed and he believes (Rolston) put the patient at great risk.”