A former paramedic supervisor who stole narcotics from ambulances and replaced them with saline solution has been sentenced to 9 years in prison.
Jason Laut, 41, of O’Fallon, Illinois, was convicted of wire fraud, falsifying medical records, aggravated identity theft, and tampering with a consumer product.
The crimes occurred between January 2013 and May 2015, during which time Laut altered documents and records to conceal his theft of fentanyl and morphine from MedStar ambulances.
Laut tampered with fentanyl vials by removing the fentanyl with a syringe and replacing it with saline or some other solution.
As a result of Laut’s crimes, 26 out of 28 vials on MedStar Ambulances were found to have tampered fentanyl vials.
The procedures for handling narcotics boxes have changed as a result of this case, and investigators were unable to determine definitively whether or to what extent any patients may have received treatment from the altered vials.
Representatives from Memorial Hospital and MedStar advised the court that the harm caused by Laut’s crimes was not just the risk that seriously injured patients received saline instead of fentanyl.
The court heard that medical directors were forced to remove fentanyl from ambulances for three years because of diversion concerns, resulting in five patients who could not receive morphine because of allergies.
Laut’s sentence of 111 months imprisonment (9 years and 3 months) was handed down on August 21, 2018.
Key Facts
- State: Illinois
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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