By David Goodhue
Miami Herald
MONROE COUNTY, Fla. — A jury convicted the former head of the Florida Keys’ helicopter ambulance program of covering up for the then-chief flight nurse, who is accused of stealing pain medication from Monroe County Fire Rescue’s supply to feed her drug addiction.
Andrea Thompson, 47, was a division chief with Monroe Fire Rescue and in charge of the fleet of Trauma Star helicopter ambulances in July 2022 when Lynda Rusinowski, the program’s chief flight nurse, admitted to her that she had been stealing powerful painkillers like fentanyl, ketamine and morphine from choppers’ hangar at Marathon International Airport.
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Rather than report the theft to her superiors or the sheriff’s office detectives who were investigating the disappearing drugs, however, Thompson booked Rusinowski into an out-of-county detox program and a rehab facility in New Jersey before she could be drug tested, according to court documents.
She then drove Rusinowski to the detox facility and ordered one of her subordinates to remove all drugs and paraphernalia found in Rusinowski’s truck, which was parked at Thompson’s house, investigators say.
A six-person jury Wednesday night found Thompson guilty of two counts of official misconduct, three counts of giving law enforcement false information, two counts of attempted evidence tampering and three counts of tampering with a witness. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 29 in Key West and faces up to 68 years in prison.
“When someone holds a position of public trust, there is an ever greater responsibility to act with honesty and integrity,” Chief Monroe County Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield said in a statement. “No position or title places anybody beyond accountability.”
Investigators also say Thompson misled detectives and her bosses about the extent of what she knew about Rusinowski’s theft.
“Law enforcement must be able to follow the evidence without being deliberately misled, evidence must be protected and witnesses must be able to provide information without interference,” Mansfield said.
Thompson was hired by Monroe County Fire Rescue in July 2001 and was earning an annual salary of $151,127 when she was fired in 2024. Her attorneys did not respond to the Miami Herald’s request for comment on the verdict.
Rusinowski pleaded no contest in February to 14 counts of grand theft of a controlled substance and three counts of official misconduct and was sentenced to five years of drug probation.
The investigation led to an August 2024 grand jury indictment that not only charged Thompson, but also then-county administrator Roman Gastesi and Dr. Sandra Schwemmer, who was the county’s medical director at the time and in charge of all medications controlled and distributed by the Fire Rescue department.
Gastesi, 65, was charged with one count of official misconduct. The grand jury said in its report that he “intervened and stopped HR and Employee Services from conducting an internal investigation by an outside third-party independent firm” of Thompson’s handling of Rusinowski’s theft.
Rather than proceed with a prosecution, Gastesi agreed to enter a pre-trial intervention program in July 2025, which he has since completed, and the State Attorney’s Office dropped the charges.
Key West news outlet Above the Fold reported that in May, his attorney sent a letter to the county seeking reimbursement for his $127,838 in legal fees he spent fighting the case.
Schwemmer, 72, was charged with one count of official misconduct, one count of providing false information to law enforcement and one count of altering patient records. The grand jury report said she “rarely appeared in County and would delegate her various responsibilities to other EMS/Trauma Star personnel, including but not limited to Andrea Thompson, Lynda Rusinowski and others.”
She also entered into a pretrial intervention agreement last October and the case against her was dropped. One of the conditions of the agreement was that she provide truthful testimony, Colleen Dunne, who tried Thompson’s trial as head of the State Attorney’s Office Major Crimes unit, said.
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