Randolph County Ambulance paramedic accused of stealing medication

A Randolph County Ambulance employee has been charged with burglary and stealing a controlled substance after she was accused of going into a house and stealing medication.

A woman told police that she had gone to her mother’s house after she was taken by ambulance to Moberly Regional Medical Center.

The woman said when she entered the house, she saw Richelle Grapes standing in the kitchen with her arm in the air near a cabinet.

Grapes allegedly told the woman she had received a medical alert from the residence and went to check on the mother.

Police said they checked with the medical alert company and there was no calls for assistance listed for the residence.

Officers said when they went to Grapes residence, they found a prescription bottle of Phernergan with codine syrup belonging to a second female victim.

According to the probable cause statement, Grapes had made contact with the second female victim on a medical call. The victim told police she had never given Grapes permission to remove the medicine bottle from her residence and did not know her.

Grapes told officers that she was friends with the second female victim and was told to keep the medicine while she was at the hospital. Grapes later changed her story and said, “I’m not gonna deny it, I shouldn’t have taken it.”

Grapes was also charged with assault, possession of a controlled substance and delivery of a controlled substance.