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Paramedic accused of stealing patient’s debit card, charging $11K

The medic, who has an extensive jail record history, stole the man’s debit card when he was dispatched to his home

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Michael Harcharik

Booking photo

SANTA FE, N.M. — A paramedic is facing charges after being accused of stealing from a dead patient.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that Michael John Harcharik, 31, with the Santa Fe Fire Department, was booked into jail Monday on an arrest warrant charging him with credit card theft and fraudulent use of a credit card for making 49 purchases totaling $11,217.

Allan Pearson, 76, was found unresponsive in his home on March 25. Harcharik’s fire department unit responded to the call. Police were alerted to the suspicious activity after Pearson’s daughter noticed several transactions on his debit card after his death.

Officials were able to identify Harcharik in video surveillance footage from stores where the card was used. The card was used to make a transaction at Wal-Mart. A video shows Harcharik leaving the store and getting into a city ambulance, the same one that responded to Pearson’s death.

Harcharik, who started as a trainee with the department in March 2009, remained in jail Tuesday on a $20,000 bond. He has been placed on alternative duty and will have no interactions with the public moving forward, city manager Brian Snyder said.

Harcharik has been booked in jail five times since 2002. In 2010, he was book for two counts of battery against a household member, in 2005 for DWI, failure to stop at a stop sign, having an open alcohol container and battery on a household member. In 2008, he was acquitted of assault of battery charges. Jail records show he was booked on another charge of battery on a household member in 2002.

Officials said Harcharik did pass a background test before being hired by the fire department, according to the report.

“Like all Santa Feans, we are deeply concerned by the details beginning to emerge, and we want to assure the public that under no circumstances are these allegations representative of the high standards we demand from the members of the Santa Fe Fire Department,” Chief Erik Litzenberg said. “The public’s trust is critical to our job as firefighters, EMTs and paramedics, and we have extensive training and protocols in place to guide members of our department in exactly these types of situations.”

Synder said more disciplinary action may be taken.

“To protect the integrity of the investigation, we are limited in what we can say at this time,” he said. “But we will be following that process closely, and we will take swift and appropriate action when it has closed.”