By Greg Smith
The Day
NEW LONDON, Conn. — A former Groton Ambulance Association employee is due to appear in court on Friday to face charges she pilfered money from co-workers while they were on medical calls.
Beverly Lowell, 32, of Groton, a licensed emergency medical technician, faces a total of 15 charges, including three counts of narcotics possession, six counts of sixth-degree larceny, fourth-degree larceny and third-degree burglary.
The charges are the result of a Groton town police investigation that started on June 20 when a Groton Ambulance employee noticed $2,000 missing from her purse after returning from a call, according to an arrest warrant affidavit in the case.
Reports of thefts from fellow employees continued into July and included small amounts taken from wallets, purses and backpacks. A 17-year-old who had visited for a ride-along on July 13 had a $100 stolen from her backpack.
Police allege Lowell also stole Xanax and Alprazolam pills from a fellow employee.
Police said ambulance workers started suspecting Lowell as the culprit based on her behaving strangely of late.
She had been leaving work while on duty and saying she needed to go on personal errands, sometimes in her own vehicle and sometimes in an ambulance, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
Groton Ambulance Office Manager Debbie Brown said the activity was “not regular, nor normal or acceptable for a Groton Ambulance employee,” according to the affidavit.
Police narrowed their list of suspects based on timecards and who was working at the time of the thefts. One employee, on July 18, went so far as to set up a laptop computer’s camera, allegedly to catch Lowell stealing from her purse in a break room.
Lowell was arrested by police that same night. During her arrest, police said they found several small plastic bags of cocaine in her purse, along with oxycodone and hydrocodone pills.
In an interview, police said, Lowell denied stealing the money. Her husband, Michael Lowell, told police she had neck surgery in January and was prescribed pain medication.
He said that he suspected when the pain medication ran out she began self-medicating with the cocaine, according to the arrest warrant affidavit in the case.
Lowell is free on $25,000 bail and has yet to enter a plea on any of the charges.
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©2015 The Day (New London, Conn.)