A CITY AUDIT is recommending the San Jose Fire Department strengthen its drug tracking and inventory security after painkiller thefts by a firefighter led to patients receiving morphine from tampered vials.
The audit, released Monday, Nov. 24, recommends Fire Chief Robert Sapien’s department update its policies on storage and access to paramedic drug kits, timing of inventory inspections, as well as access to biometric narcotics safes that the department plans to roll out over the next year.
“Our audit of the main safe inventory in the summer of 2025 revealed no evidence of theft or tampering,” the audit reads. “However, the current duties of the Fire Department’s Controlled Substances Program Manager (CSPM) are not sufficiently separated to ensure security of the medication.”
It comes after a routine fire station inspection in April found signs of tampering on morphine sulfate containers. City officials later announced the arrest of a fire captain, Mark Moalem, on suspicion of stealing and tampering with the drugs, affecting as many as 17 stations. But emails first obtained by San José Spotlight in May showed the city knew about drug inventory discrepancies, damaged vials and patient exposure for more than a year before Moalem’s arrest — and kept quiet about it until questioned by this news outlet. Moalem was charged with two misdemeanors and a felony over the thefts and he appeared in court in May.
Following the publication of those emails, Santa Clara County’s emergency medical services chief blasted Sapien for sitting on those warnings and not alerting county EMS. The county official also raised concerns that the San Jose Fire Department violated federal regulations for controlled substances.
City auditors last week said they found no further evidence of tampering or drug thefts during their audit conducted this past summer.
Sapien’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
What the audit didn’t mention
Representatives for San Jose Fire Fighters IAFF Local 230, the union of city firefighters, welcome the findings — but argue there’s a glaring omission.
“The audit confirms what our community already knows: San Jose firefighter paramedics continue to deliver exceptional care with integrity and professionalism,” union President Jerry May told San José Spotlight. “However, from the perspective of IAFF Local 230, the audit leaves out the most important factor that led to the systemwide issues in the first place.”
Around the time of Moalem’s arrest, May’s union lambasted the fire chief for getting San Jose City Council approval in fiscal year 2023-24 to eliminate Med 30, a paramedic field supervisor program it said played a critical role in drug management. The program had various responsibilities for ensuring timely medical care during fire emergencies, including investigating discrepancies in the fire department’s narcotics inventory.
“The audit confirms what our community already knows: San Jose firefighter paramedics continue to deliver exceptional care with integrity and professionalism.” Jerry May, San Jose Fire Fighters IAFF Local 230 president
Facing scrutiny after Moalem’s arrest, councilmembers approved the revival of Med 30 in June, with new funding for seven months starting in December as part of the budget vote. It will cost $748,000, according to the budget memo.
“Problems only began after the position was eliminated in fiscal year 2023-24, and specialized responsibilities were dispersed among staff already carrying heavy operational workloads,” May said. “While the audit makes several valid recommendations for policy clarification and stronger separation of duties, it does not examine how removing Med 30 created the conditions for these weaknesses to surface.”
Sapien has defended his decision to eliminate Med 30, arguing it did not result in decreased oversight. He previously said the fire department’s controlled substance inventory is managed by the same fire captain formerly assigned to Med 30.
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.