A former Lewis County Fire District 5 paramedic and medical services officer accused of forging forms to order between 1,200 and 1,500 vials of narcotics and then stealing more than 1,062 of those vials last year is now facing felony theft and forgery charges.
The stolen narcotics were valued at over $5,000.
Lewis County Fire District 5, based out of Napavine, suspended its advanced life support (ALS) medical delivery service and notified law enforcement on Aug. 15, 2023, after fire personnel noticed a possible inventory issue, according to court documents and previous Chronicle reporting.
At the time, Napavine Police Chief John Brockmueller “was advised there was concern at District 5 regarding the ordering of narcotics by Caitlin Hoye, who was the medical services officer for the department,” according to charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court in March 2024.
Hoye, 29, of Olympia, was hired as District 5’s medical services officer in March 2023. As the medical services officer, Hoye was the only person in charge of ordering and distributing schedule one narcotics for District 5, according to court documents.
Like other emergency medical service providers, District 5 stocks doses of the highly addictive opioids fentanyl, hydromorphone and morphine to be used as painkillers in extreme circumstances.
While District 5 typically uses 100 to 150 vials of narcotics total per year, Hoye allegedly ordered 425 vials of fentanyl, 475 vials of hydromorphone and 275 vials of morphine between January 2023 and Aug. 8, 2023, according to court documents.
“When asked why she ordered so many narcotics, (Hoye) stated that the other vials were not good so she had to order more,” according to court documents.
Investigators later determined that only 62 vials of fentanyl, 38 vials of hydromorphone and 26 vials of morphine had been discarded for temperature issues. District 5 had 12 vials of fentanyl, 12 vials of hydromorphone and six vials of morphine in its inventory when investigators searched the station in August 2023, leaving 333 vials of fentanyl, 410 vials of hydromorphone and 219 vials of morphine unaccounted for. The unaccounted for narcotics have a total value of $5,385.55, according to court documents.
To order narcotics, the medical services officer must fill out forms mailed to the department by the state Drug Enforcement Administration. The forms had to be signed by Lewis County Medical Program Director Dr. Peter McCahill or by former Lewis County Fire District 5 Chief Dan Mahoney, who had power of attorney to sign the forms, according to court documents.
While McCahill confirmed he signed a form submitted by Hoye on June 12, 2023, Hoye is accused of forging Mahoney’s signature on three forms dated between June 20 and Aug. 2, 2023, at which time Mahoney was not employed with District 5.
A search of Hoye’s backpack yielded more of the forms and documentation on purchasing narcotics for District 5, according to court documents.
In reviewing the total amount of narcotics Hoye ordered, McCahill reportedly “confirmed it was excessive” and confirmed 11 instances where the amount of narcotics administered was listed inconsistently between patients’ medical records and corresponding narcotics usage forms.
“Each time the discrepancy was one to two vials, and all the discrepancies were when Ms. Hoye was the paramedic,” according to court documents.
District 5 has since confirmed the medication misuse did not affect patient care.
“There was nobody who did not get proper medication and nobody who was given too much,” Interim Fire Chief Gregg Peterson told The Chronicle in December.
Investigators who searched District 5’s narcotics safe — which had to be forced open because Hoye misplaced the keys and no longer had fingerprint access — in August 2023 found empty boxes of fentanyl, hydromorphone and morphine, according to court documents.
The keys were ultimately found hidden under a T-shirt in another District 5 medic’s area, according to court documents.
When questioned, Hoye allegedly said the other medic “maybe … was a person of interest.”
The medic denied any knowledge of the keys being in his closet area and “stated he believed he was being framed.” He subsequently agreed to submit to a polygraph test, which he passed, according to court documents.
Hoye was charged March 14, 2024, in Lewis County Superior Court with one count of first-degree theft and three counts of forgery. She was issued a summons notice on March 22 for a preliminary hearing scheduled for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12.
This article will be updated online at chronline.com with the results of that hearing.
Lewis County Fire District 5 resumed its ALS service in late November after investigators determined that none of District 5’s current staff, including its two paramedics, were involved in the inventory issues. The district has also made internal changes, including upgrading its narcotics safe, installing security cameras inside the station and setting up a new inventory system, to prevent any future abuse of the district’s inventory.
“We just put a lot of checks and balances into this system,” Peterson told The Chronicle in December, adding, “We learned a lot (from the investigation). We can step forward in a much better way than we were months ago.”
