Paramedic charged with drug theft in Halifax fired
A Halifax paramedic was arrested Thursday and charged with stealing drugs from the Emergency Health Services.
Zachary Dewar, 25, was arrested after a three-week investigation by Halifax police. He also faces breach of trust and mischief charges.
Since then EHS has fired him and the province has suspended his paramedic's licence.
EHS contacted police on Jan. 24 after noticing a discrepancy in their internal system for managing controlled narcotics.
"The investigation led to a traffic stop and subsequent arrest of an off-duty paramedic at 3:15 p.m. [Thursday] outside an EHS base on Wilkinson Avenue in Dartmouth, during which officers seized narcotics," Const. Pierre Bourdages said Friday.
Police allege the man tampered with vials of controlled narcotics in the possession of EHS in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
Ambulances carry controlled substances including morphine and Valium.
"Frankly we're disappointed with the outcome here. But this is an isolated incident within our operation," said Jeff Fraser, director of operations for EHS
After Dewar's arrest, police searched a residence on Lawrence Street in central Halifax.
Dewar is also a second year med student at Dalhousie University. A spokesperson for the university said Dewar remains a student but he doesn't have unsupervised access to drugs.
Dewar was released early Friday and is due back in court April 23.
