A Queens FDNY Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) has pleaded guilty to stealing cash from an undercover investigator posing as a sick patient in a sting operation conducted by the city’s Department of Investigation just over a year ago.
Luis Carrillo Jr., 44, of Corona, pled guilty on Friday, Aug. 9, to grand larceny in the fourth degree, an E felony, and petit larceny.
“This defendant, an EMT, stole from an undercover en route to a hospital via ambulance, who appeared in need of medical care,” DOI Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said. “This defendant breached the trust placed in EMTs, who provide critical services every day to New Yorkers in dire need of medical care.”
Under the plea deal, if Carrillo completes a substance abuse program, resigns from the FDNY and surrenders his EMT certification, the felony would be dismissed and he will be sentenced to a conditional discharge on the misdemeanor. If he fails to comply with any of the conditions, Carrillo will be sentenced to a year in jail.
“As a result of his guilty plea, he will lose his EMT certification, and his job with the FDNY, a serious punishment and an important step in taking responsibility for his criminal conduct,” Strauber said.
The undercover operation, also known as an integrity test, was prompted by a theft allegation involving Carrillo.
According to the criminal complaint, DOI conducted the integrity test in the early morning hours of Aug. 2, 2023, on Roosevelt Avenue, as the undercover posed as an ill patient being transported in an ambulance to Elmhurst Hospital for treatment.
Carrillo was inside the ambulance as an EMT when the DOI investigator saw the defendant remove the undercover’s wallet, which contained $1,100 in marked bills. Once the undercover was dropped off at Elmhurst Hospital, he discovered that $690 was missing from his wallet. A team of DOI investigators conducted surveillance of the operation and stopped the ambulance as it left the hospital and approached Carrillo, who was still inside the ambulance, and recovered $600 in marked bills from his right front pocket, but the investigators did not find the additional $90 that was missing from the undercover’s wallet. Carrillo was taken into custody.
The office of Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz prosecuted the case.
“The EMTs of New York City perform lifesaving work every day of the week,” Katz said. “Unfortunately, this defendant brought dishonor to his profession by stealing $600 from an undercover agent during an integrity test.”
Carrillo has been employed as an EMT since October 2012 and receives an annual salary of $59,534. The FDNY suspended him following his arraignment on criminal charges last August. He has already resigned from the FDNY, surrendered his EMT certification and agreed not to seek recertification as an EMT in New York State or any other state.
“With today’s plea to a felony, this defendant will receive an appropriate sentence for his conduct,” Katz said. “I thank our partners at the Department of Investigation for their assistance in this case.”
