California EMT Probed on Suspicion of Using Phony Card

A Northern California rescuer suspected of using a counterfeit emergency medical technician card to hide a 2006 conviction for secretly videotaping a nude teenager is now under investigation by the Santa Clara District Attorney's Office.

Bruce H. Lee, emergency medical services director for Santa Clara County, said he has referred the case of EMT Robert Eugene Chaney to Deputy District Attorney Steve Gibbons for a possible forgery prosecution. Gibbons declined to comment.

The move follows an investigative report in Sunday's Bee. The story revealed how California paramedics and EMTs found guilty of sexual misconduct or patient neglect continue to work in ambulances, fire departments and hospitals through flaws in the state's licensing system.

Chaney worked for a year and a half after his arrest on an American Medical Response ambulance in San Jose. He had been arrested in May 2005 for using a hidden camcorder to record a nude teenage girl in a bathroom.

Chaney was convicted of his misdemeanor in March 2006 under the state's new "anti video-peeping" law.

Yet American Medical Response did not report Chaney's conviction to local emergency medical authorities until The Bee asked about it. Even then, the company said the conviction was unrelated to his ambulance work and warranted no further action.

Chaney, who is no longer certified as an EMT, was initially put on administrative leave by his company. AMR spokesman Jason Sorrick said Tuesday that the company would cooperate fully with the district attorney.

Though working in Santa Clara, Chaney was certified as an EMT by the Sierra-Sacramento Valley Emergency Medical Services Agency.

When Santa Clara officials checked with Sierra-Sacramento officials during their probe into Chaney's video-peeping conviction, they discovered his EMT certification had expired on Oct. 31, 2005. It was never renewed.

Yet Chaney presented a purportedly renewed EMT certification card from Sierra-Sacramento to Santa Clara officials. Both agencies now suspect that card is a forgery, according to Lee and Vickie Pinette, director of Sierra-Sacramento.

"Initially, when Mr. Chaney applied for his EMT card, he had no criminal record," Pinette said. "With his arrest and conviction, we probably wouldn't have recertified him."

Asked to comment on the alleged forgery, AMR's Sorrick provided a written statement to The Bee.

"Due to employment privacy policies, I cannot discuss AMR's internal investigation into the validity of Mr. Chaney's certification," Sorrick wrote. "What I can tell you is that AMR does not employ caregivers who do not possess a valid certification."

Pinette said the Chaney case has prompted her officials to adopt more rigorous internal checks for applicants seeking to work as rescuers.

Pinette said her officials will now call and check the credentials of anyone with a card from another county emergency medical agency or public safety agency to ensure they are actually certified by that agency.

The Bee's Andrew McIntosh can be reached at (916) 321-1215.

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