Firefighter Cleared in Training Case

A Los Angeles County firefighter accused of training hundreds of firefighters in emergency medicine without a valid paramedic credential has been cleared of all criminal charges in the case, department officials announced Friday.

A Superior Court judge in Ventura this week dismissed forgery and theft charges against Allen Lee Smith, 47, after his attorney argued that Smith was qualified to teach emergency medicine even without a current credential.

“What he had done was provide some of the best instruction that the state receives anywhere. They were not deprived,” lawyer Dennis Fredrickson said. “The judge essentially said, ‘No harm, no foul.’ ”

Smith, a 20-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, had been charged with two felony counts of forgery and two counts of theft under false pretenses in connection with a part-time job conducting emergency medical technician training for hundreds of Ventura County firefighters and students at Oxnard Community College.

Former Paramedic

Smith, a former paramedic, has also served as chief instructor in emergency medicine for 2,000 Los Angeles County firefighters in the last several years.

Smith was bound over for trial after prosecutors presented evidence he had not had a valid paramedic certificate since 1978 and had presented a forged document to county health officials reviewing his employment application.

But Superior Court Judge Charles McGrath dismissed the charges, concurring with Smith’s lawyer that the firefighter, who had an extensive background in emergency medicine and who had tried to keep up with advances in the field, had not committed any crime.

The chief deputy district attorney in Ventura County, Vincent O’Neill, said the judge ruled that Smith had entered into a contract to teach emergency medical procedures, and he had fulfilled the contract adequately. Smith’s failure to have a current medical certificate was, the judge concluded, “simply a technical failure to license,” O’Neill said.

Appeal Considered

Ventura County authorities are considering an appeal of the dismissal.

“We disagreed strongly with the judge’s decision on the forgery,” O’Neill said. “The validity of the (emergency medical) certification of the entire Ventura County Fire Department has been called into question, subjecting the County of Ventura to potential liability for having uncertified firemen performing emergency medical treatment,” he said.

“That has, in turn, caused the county to undertake a very expensive recertification program (for firefighters) to correct that defect, so there has been significant harm there, I think,” he said.

Smith has been relieved of his firefighting duties and placed on special administrative duty pending the outcome of the case.