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Guns for sale at NYC hospital

Healthcare Security Weekly, April 18, 2004

A Bellevue Hospital medical assistant has been charged with dealing guns and drugs from inside the facility on April 14, the New York Times reports.

 
Sam Perez, 38, a patient-care technician who drew blood from patients and performed other procedures, was arrested and charged with selling automatic weapons and "large amounts of cocaine" out of his locker at work.


His customers-including an undercover cop posing as a buyer-would slip past hospital security to a second-floor locker room in the adult ambulatory care clinic, where Perez sold at least two guns and cocaine.

 
A hospital spokesman admitted the hospital never performed a required criminal background check before hiring Perez, who has an arrest record dating to 1983 including arrests on grand larceny and felony narcotics possession charges.


Bellevue Hospital is reviewing its security procedures, which includes examining all employees' personnel files.


As a result of recent crime at Bellevue, NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg asked the city's police commissioner Raymond W. Kelly to review security in the city's hospital.

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