A former Mount Dora firefighter is facing charges, including reckless tampering with a product, risking injury or death. Jesse Ravenscraft is accused of tampering with drugs at the fire department, which was kept on one of their engines. On March 4, Mount Dora Police launched an investigation at the city’s own fire department involving two tampered bottles of diphenhydramine.”That’s a generic name for Benadryl, which is kind of like the gold standard for antihistamines,” said Bill Petersen, a pharmacist and a Clermont City councilor.He said it’s something he’s seen before in liquid form on ambulances. “We would have it as an injectable,” he said. The city of Mount Dora said the fire department started noticing missing bottles of Benadryl at one of their stations, so they started doing a full inventory of their medications and checking them twice daily. The city said that’s when they found vials that seemed to be tampered with. An arrest report said a firefighter found two bottles with what looked and smelled like glue on them, and noticed a flush and two syringes were missing. The report also describes emails from two different firefighters about the same firefighter lieutenant, Jesse Ravenscraft, reporting him allegedly asking about super glue on March 3, and having glue at his desk on March 4. The report said video surveillance given to the police department appears to show someone, later identified as Ravenscraft, taking a syringe and extracting water from a water bottle on March 3. The report said investigators believe Ravenscraft tampered with two bottles of Benadryl and replaced the drug with non-sterile water. WESH 2 spoke with pharmacist Dr. Amarjit Kaur, who owns Harrison’s Pharmacy. She said bottles that have been tampered with should not be used. “Because we don’t know what else is mixed in it or if anything got in the bottle when it was tampered,” she said. The arrest report said if the vials that seemed to be tampered with had been used on a patient, the effects could be detrimental, “up to and including death.”The city of Mount Dora said the tampered vials were removed and they did a full inventory of medications.”At no point was patient care or public safety compromised,” the city said. “Based on the information currently available, the incident appears to have involved personal misuse. At this time, there is no evidence to suggest any intent to harm patients or members of the public.” The city of Mount Dora said Ravenscraft resigned from his position with the fire department on March 13. WESH 2 did attempt to reach him for comment. He is currently out on bond.
MOUNT DORA, Fla. —
A former Mount Dora firefighter is facing charges, including reckless tampering with a product, risking injury or death.
Jesse Ravenscraft is accused of tampering with drugs at the fire department, which was kept on one of their engines.
On March 4, Mount Dora Police launched an investigation at the city’s own fire department involving two tampered bottles of diphenhydramine.
“That’s a generic name for Benadryl, which is kind of like the gold standard for antihistamines,” said Bill Petersen, a pharmacist and a Clermont City councilor.
He said it’s something he’s seen before in liquid form on ambulances.
“We would have it as an injectable,” he said.
The city of Mount Dora said the fire department started noticing missing bottles of Benadryl at one of their stations, so they started doing a full inventory of their medications and checking them twice daily. The city said that’s when they found vials that seemed to be tampered with.
An arrest report said a firefighter found two bottles with what looked and smelled like glue on them, and noticed a flush and two syringes were missing.
The report also describes emails from two different firefighters about the same firefighter lieutenant, Jesse Ravenscraft, reporting him allegedly asking about super glue on March 3, and having glue at his desk on March 4.
The report said video surveillance given to the police department appears to show someone, later identified as Ravenscraft, taking a syringe and extracting water from a water bottle on March 3.
The report said investigators believe Ravenscraft tampered with two bottles of Benadryl and replaced the drug with non-sterile water.
WESH 2 spoke with pharmacist Dr. Amarjit Kaur, who owns Harrison’s Pharmacy. She said bottles that have been tampered with should not be used.
“Because we don’t know what else is mixed in it or if anything got in the bottle when it was tampered,” she said.
The arrest report said if the vials that seemed to be tampered with had been used on a patient, the effects could be detrimental, “up to and including death.”
The city of Mount Dora said the tampered vials were removed and they did a full inventory of medications.
“At no point was patient care or public safety compromised,” the city said. “Based on the information currently available, the incident appears to have involved personal misuse. At this time, there is no evidence to suggest any intent to harm patients or members of the public.”
The city of Mount Dora said Ravenscraft resigned from his position with the fire department on March 13. WESH 2 did attempt to reach him for comment. He is currently out on bond.