By KIMBERLY VETTER
The Advocate
Copyright 2007 Capital City Press
All Rights Reserved
Baton Rouge police on Thursday arrested an East Baton Rouge Parish Emergency Medical Services paramedic accused of stealing drugs from a patient he treated on the job.
Police arrested Jacob Paul Musumeche, 24, during a sting they set up at an area motel, said Sgt. Don Kelly, a police spokesman.
The sting was organized after EMS officials notified police about complaints they received from hospitals about missing medications, said Tom Harris, an EMS spokesman.
During the sting, police put a patient and some medication inside a motel room and called EMS for service, Kelly said.
Musumeche responded to the call and transported the patient and the medication to the hospital, Kelly said.
When the medication was returned to the patient, some of it was missing.
Police searched Musumeche at the EMS station, 545 Lobdell Ave., and found the missing medication. Police also found drugs in Musumeche’s car, Kelly said.
Musumeche, 602 Caliente, New Iberia, was booked into Parish Prison on two counts of possession of legend drugs and one count each of misdemeanor theft and possession of hydrocodone.
Musumeche was placed on unpaid leave from his job with EMS until a pre-termination hearing with the city-parish Civil Service Board, Harris said.
Musumeche was hired on Jan. 5, 2006.
Harris said EMS started receiving complaints about missing drugs a few months ago. At that point, he said, EMS conducted an internal investigation and turned its findings over to the police.