By Lisa Redmond
Lowell Sun
BOSTON — Five men, including two from the Lowell area, were indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury yesterday in a growing scandal over allegedly bogus recertifications for emergency medical technicians.
Former EMT instructor Thomas Codair Sr., 49, of Cambridge, is accused of creating and submitting training records that falsely showed dozens of emergency personnel attended courses they were required to complete to maintain their certification, according to Attorney General Martha Coakley.
Codair is charged with providing false statements in documents/aiding and abetting others to evade Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) requirements (four counts), and conspiracy to commit an OEMS violation (three counts).
The indictments handed up yesterday also accuse the top executives of LifeLine Ambulance in Woburn: company President Brian Connor, 49, of Arlington; Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Kulis, 37, of Wilmington; and vice presidents Michael McPherson, 38, of Billerica, and Brian O’Connor 39, of Woburn.
All are charged with one count of providing false statements to OEMS/evade OEMS requirements, and one count conspiracy to commit an OEMS violation.
Those holding EMT basic certification are required during each two-year cycle to complete mandatory continuing education and a 24-hour refresher course. EMT paramedics, consistent with their correspondingly greater treatment responsibilities, must complete mandatory continuing education and a 48-hour refresher course.
The state alleges that Codair taught four refresher training courses from 2006 to 2009, and allowed EMTs to sign course rosters without attending the course. Codair then allegedly submitted the rosters to the state, falsely certifying all signers’ attendance at those courses, allowing those EMTs to qualify for recertification.
Authorities also allege that Connor, Kulis, McPherson and O’Connor each signed attendance rosters for a 2007 refresher course without having attended classes. Codair then allegedly submitted the rosters to OEMS for credit.
Yesterday’s indictments are the third in a series of indictments since the attorney general’s office began probing EMT recertifications late in 2008.
The first round led to indictments on the North Shore, including Hamilton’s former police chief, a former Wenham police lieutenant and an Ipswich selectman.
Last November, five people were indicted in a separate EMT case, including two former employees of the Lowell-based Trinity Ambulance.
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