BOSTON — In a false-records probe of EMTs across the state, a former Haverhill firefighter pleaded guilty this week to his role in allowing 28 other Haverhill firefighters to lie about their emergency medical technician training.
In Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday, Jeffrey Given, 42, was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation and fined $5,000 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit Executive Office of Medical Services violations.
He also pleaded guilty to four counts of aiding and abetting the making of false statements in documents submitted to the OEMS and violation an OEMs requirement, according to published reports.
Given, who was a paramedic of Trinity Ambulance of Haverhill, would go to Haverhill fire stations to collect money and signatures on training attendance rosters, then passed the documents and cash to Leo Nault, according to investigators.
State officials allege both instructors failed to conduct required EMT refresher training courses, falsified training documentation and in some cases, received money from EMTs in exchange for the false records.
Last June, the state revoked the licenses of 211 EMTs after an investigation revealed they held falsified training records. The EMTs, who work for 10 private and 14 municipal ambulance services across the state, face license revocations ranging from 45 days to nine months, according to state officials.
The state revoked the EMT-paramedic certification permanently for EMT instructors Mark Culleton, of Billerica, and Leo Nault, who was employed by Lowell-based Trinity EMS Inc. Trinity EMS President John Chemaly confirmed that Nault was previously fired once he discovered that Nault was being investigated by the state.
Culleton is a Lexington firefighter who operated an EMT training certification business, called Life Saving Maneuvers, which was based out of his Billerica home at 17 Wildbrook Road.
