By Tiara M. Ellis, staff writer
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006 The Dallas Morning News
A Collin County grand jury chose not to indict a former firefighter paramedic accused of stealing drugs from the McKinney Fire Department for personal use.
Mark R. Hemphill, 28, of Sachse faced a charge of tampering with protective seals on containers of morphine and Versed, a sedative.
Mr. Hemphill could not be reached for comment.
In January, the eight-year veteran of the Fire Department confessed to taking the drugs and filling or diluting the vials with water, said Capt. Randy Roland, a McKinney police spokesman. He was fired the next day.
“We filed the best cases we had, and a grand jury chose not to indict,” said Capt. Roland, adding that Mr. Hemphill confessed and consented to a search, and that police found the empty vials that they say once held the missing drugs.
The grand jury’s decision not to indict “does not mean that he did not commit the offense or that he did not betray the trust of the public servants with his actions,” Capt. Roland said. “Why the grand jury chose not to indict is the question.”
Grand jury proceedings are kept secret under state law, so finding out why jurors reached a decision is difficult.
Assistant Fire Chief Frank Roma said the department stands by Mr. Hemphill’s firing and believes that he misused his position to steal the drugs.
Still, Chief Roma believes the grand jurors did their due diligence by looking at the facts and applying the law.
McKinney fire officials say they first knew that something was wrong in December when a fire captain noticed that the seals on some vials had been tampered with. As a result, the entire drug inventory was inspected, and they discovered that 49 vials had been altered. Samples were sent for testing and found to be diluted or replaced with water.
Fire officials checked with patients who might have received a watered-down version of the medications from Dec. 15 to Dec. 21.
“We looked at all those calls where we believe there may have been an opportunity for patients to have received medications that may have been tampered with,” Chief Roma said. “The investigations showed that there were no ill effects.”