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A high-ranking Contra Costa County Fire Protection District official who is fighting felony embezzlement and drug possession charges was given a job with access to narcotics even though his bosses knew he previously had been in drug-related trouble, according to records obtained by this news organization.
Years before his January arrest on suspicion of possessing fentanyl, an opiate-based painkiller, and midazolam, a sleeping aid, Richard Stephenson was demoted and given a warning for substance abuse. Yet in 2017, he was promoted to chief of the Emergency Medical Services division.
Fire district personnel records show the district knew as far back as 2005 about Stephenson’s drug use. In January of that year, he signed a “last chance agreement” that required him to get all scheduled absences pre-approved by a supervisor, provide a doctor’s note for all sick days the following two years and abstain from taking “psychoactive drugs” or misusing prescription drugs. In exchange, the fire district agreed to not pursue disciplinary action against him for previous substance abuse.
A few years later, in 2009, Stephenson was demoted from fire engineer to firefighter because he had failed to notify the district he was under investigation by state Emergency Medical Services until after the probe was completed and his paramedic license was revoked.
He had come under fire from both the state and county EMS authorities in spring 2009 because he had not disclosed prior criminal convictions for fighting and had admitted to using cocaine and marijuana while licensed and employed as a paramedic, which the fire district noted in its demotion order.
Stephenson was charged in 2004 with felony stalking and battery in two separate incidents, but took a plea deal in 2005 for misdemeanor fighting, as this news organization previously reported. An accusation filed by the state EMS alleges that in August 2004 he stalked his ex-wife by following her to a hotel and “confronted” responding officers. Three months later, according to the accusation from the EMS, Stephenson got into an argument with his girlfriend and shoved her into a dresser.
He was convicted in both cases of misdemeanor fighting in plea deals with the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office.
According to court records, fire officials told investigators this year that Stephenson’s job gave him access to pharmaceutical cabinets containing “highly addictive” drugs, and that he had a master key to all department fire units. Police suspected he used the key to steal drugs from prescription disposal areas, fire trucks and pharmaceutical bins at fire stations.
At the time of his arrest, police seized hundreds of 5-milliliter and 2-milliliter vials of fentanyl, midazolam and other bottles of prescription medicines, as well as unused hypodermic needles, according to court records. Stephenson checked into a detoxification facility on Jan. 2, and a roommate reported finding the drugs hidden in one of his laundry baskets.
“Stephenson’s promotion did not offer him lone access to narcotics. Such access was controlled by an oversight program administered by a narcotics control officer and overseen by medical staff and senior leadership,” fire district spokesman Steve Hill stated in a response issued this week. “However, the retirement of the narcotics control officer resulted in a short period when Stephenson was able to access narcotics with lessened oversight.”
The statement also said that “As a result of this incident, we have put in place procedures related to further safeguard our operations from the actions of any employee seeking to subvert them.”
Additional documents obtained through a public records request showed that other, lower-ranking district employees recently signed “settlement and last chance agreement” forms with the district promising to behave better after they were caught selling or possessing human growth hormone while on duty between December 2016 and February 2017.
The district redacted the names of those employees, saying in a letter that “The release of this information does not further any public interest and does not shed light on the District’s performance of its duties.”
The district issued and signed four of those settlement agreements — two for employees who had apparently been selling human growth hormone and two for employees who allegedly possessed it.
While Hill would not reveal specifics about the new safety procedures implemented after Stephenson’s arrest, he said the department “thoroughly examined all related security procedures and made a number of enhancements to narcotics access controls, logging and video surveillance.”
The district immediately removed and reviewed all controlled substances from fire engines, trucks and rescue squad vehicles while it investigated the situation, and determined there had been no tampering of those drugs and “no compromise of public safety related to these medications occurred as a result of this incident.”
Stephenson was not fired for the alleged offenses, Hill confirmed. He was placed on paid administrative leave on Jan. 7 this year but applied for retirement while on leave.
“As a result … Jan.12 he was no longer an employee of the District and no longer subject to our internal investigation,” the statement confirmed.