NEW YORK — An EMT was arrested Wednesday and faces up for four years in jail after offering $400 to an undercover reporter to take his mandatory state-certification exam.
NY Post reported that Bernard Shore, 65, was charged with criminal solicitation, offering a false instrument for filing and official misconduct. The 10-year volunteer critical-care EMT failed the state exam that all EMTs need to pass every three years to be recertified, according to the report.
Shore applied to retake the exam in July, but to make sure he passed it, he placed an ad on Craigslist seek a medic or EMT-critical care to impersonate him, according to the report.
An undercover NY Post reporter, also working with a retired New York medic, contacted Shore and was offered $400 to take the exam. He met with the reporter, handed over the money and fake ID, and Shore sped away in his car when the reporter identified himself, according to the report.
Shore was fired one week later.
“Had this defendant been able to successfully pull off this scam, his lack of qualifications could have meant the difference between life and death for an innocent person,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said.