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** New Jersey medic facing up to five years in jail for thefts

** 2 BC Ambulance executives under investigation

** A New Jersey medic faces up to five years in prison if he is convicted of stealing large amounts of cash from patients. That is the word from the Star-Ledger (Christopher Baxter/December 17) which said Monmouth County EMT Felipe Barruos, 25, was indicted Tuesday by a state grand jury. According to the newspaper, Barruos has been charged with theft by deception x 2 and theft by unlawful taking x 1. The tags relate to incidents that occurred between February 20 and July 29th of this year. In one instance sighted, Barruos allegedly took money from a patient to buy what he said would be discounted electronics. No product, however, ever changed hands. In another, he accompanied a female patient to a shopping center, apparently absconding with her money while he carried her purse. The third example saw Barruos allegedly remove coins from a patients home for appraisal purposes. The coins were apparently never returned.

** Two BC Ambulance Service executives have been put on administrative leave with pay for alleged problems with their management practices. CBC British Columbia (December 21) quoted a provincial spokesman as saying the duo are not under criminal investigation. Provincial Health Services Authority(PHSA) talking head Darwin Sauer did not, however, elaborate further on the situation involving Michael MacDougall and Les Fisher. MacDougall is the president of Emergency Health Services and the executive vice-president of the PHSA. Fisher, alternately, is the BC Ambulance Service chief operating officer. A third party investigator is undertaking the look-see and temporary replacements are filling the men’s jobs.