Neighboring EMT Accused of Stealing Narcotics from McCandless/Franklin Park Ambulance Authority

McCandless police have charged a part-time Ross/West View EMSA emergency medical technician with stealing medicine from a McCandless/Franklin Park Authority ambulance. 

Julian Richard Smith II, 25, of Shaler, is charged with one count of theft and one count of possession of narcotics. 

Security video from inside the ambulance on July 25 revealed a man, taking the drugs from a cabinet while the crew was delivering a patient to UMPC Passavant. 

A Ross/West View EMSA ambulance was parked next to the McCandless/Franklin Park Ambulance at the time. The hospital’s security camera recorded a member of the Ross crew entering the McCandless ambulance while everyone else was inside the hospital. Smith was the only male member of that particular Ross crew. 

According to the criminal complaint, when confronted by police, Smith confessed, saying he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after serving in the Army in Iraq. The criminal complaint said Smith admitted to using the morphine and fentanyl taken from the ambulance.   

Ross/West View EMSA Executive Director Bryan Kircher confirmed Smith was a casual, part-time EMT who has since been terminated. 

According to the criminal complaint, Smith also worked for the Shaler Area Ambulance Authority and is a suspect in several other similar thefts in Shaler and Reserve Township, which is serviced by the Ross/West View EMSA.