N.C. Paramedic Not Guilty in Drug Theft

Mar. 30--RALEIGH -- Jurors cleared a former paramedic Thursday of accusations of stealing morphine from Wake County ambulances he worked on.

The acquittals on 17 felony counts of embezzling a controlled substance came less than an hour after the dozen Wake County jurors began deliberating the fate of Jason Greulich, 29, of Morrisville.

"I'm glad this is over," Greulich said after the verdict was handed down.

Since his arrest in April, he and his fiancee, Cristin McNeill, put off their wedding and used their wedding funds to pay for legal fees. He was fired from his job at Wake County Emergency Medical Services, and his paramedic license lapsed while he awaited trial. He has since taken a job as a landscaper and does not know whether he'll return to the medical field.

Prosecutor Christy Joyce said that Greulich stole the morphine from vials kept on board ambulances and diluted it with some type of other solution. Some vials had broken paper seals and others had the seals glued back on, she said.

He emerged as a suspect when Wake County EMS supervisors and Raleigh police detectives noticed the tampered morphine vials corresponded with his schedule, she said.

"He made a mistake, and he did the wrong thing," Joyce said in her closing argument.

On the stand, Greulich said the only times he opened the morphine vials were to administer the medication to patients for pain relief. He had come from New Jersey several months before his arrest and said he noticed tampered paper seals on morphine bottles but was never instructed to report the tampering to EMS supervisors.

His attorney, Ann Groninger, told jurors that the joint investigation by supervisors at Wake County EMS and internal affairs detectives at the Raleigh Police Department relied on circumstantial evidence. Other paramedics were never ruled out, and no attempts were made to contact the morphine manufacturers to see whether there were other complaints about tampered or defective products, she said.

Groninger also criticized the system that was used to monitor the morphine on ambulances.

"There's no tracking," she said.

Greulich never appeared to be under the influence of morphine while at work, according to court testimony. Police investigators turned down his offer to be drug tested when they first questioned him, he said.

Greulich also offered to let investigators examine him for track marks, which are often left from syringes. No track marks were found.

Staff writer Sarah Ovaska can be reached at 829-4622.

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