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State revokes license of imprisoned EMT with history of drug arrests

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State revokes license of imprisoned EMT with history of drug arrests

Nov 04, 2024 | 5:08 pm ET
By Clark Kauffman
State revokes license of imprisoned EMT with history of drug arrests
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Iowa's emergency medical service providers are overseen by the state's Bureau of Emergency Medical and Trauma Services. (Photo by Getty Images)

Six months after licensing a convicted felon and drug dealer to work as an emergency medical technician in Iowa, the state has revoked the man’s license.

According to the Iowa Bureau of Emergency Medical and Trauma Services, Adam Doty was fired from the Sioux City Fire and Rescue Department on July 29, 2024, due to his alleged off-duty use of methamphetamine on July 25.

The bureau then made what it calls “numerous attempts to contact” Doty before learning that he was incarcerated in a Minnesota federal prison on drug charges.

Four weeks ago, the bureau charged Doty with habitual intoxication or addiction to drugs, the excessive use of drugs that might impair an emergency medical care provider’s ability to practice with reasonable skill or safety, and willful or repeated violations of Iowa’s EMS regulations. The bureau then revoked Doty’s license, effective Oct. 23.

Representatives of Sioux City Fire and Rescue could not be reached for comment Monday.

Court records show Doty had been arrested several times before being licensed by the state as an EMT and hired by the city.

In 2007, Doty was convicted of possession of marijuana on one occasion and was twice convicted of first-offense operating a vehicle while intoxicated. In 2009, he was convicted of felony drug distribution charges, and in 2010, his probation on that charge was revoked after he admitted to being arrested in South Dakota on a drug charge and to seven separate parole violations.

In 2017, Doty was convicted of third-offense possession of marijuana, and a short time later he was indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. In April 2018, he was sentenced to 91 months in prison, with federal prosecutors stating that Doty had been a “methamphetamine dealer in the Sioux City area” who was purchasing and reselling “multiple-ounce quantities of methamphetamine.”

At some point, Doty was released from prison on supervised parole, and in April 2024, while still on parole, he was certified as an EMT by the Iowa Bureau of Emergency Medical and Trauma Services.

According to the City of Sioux City’s human resources office, Doty was hired on June 15, 2024, at which point he began working for Sioux City Fire and Rescue as a firefighter and EMT.

About that time, for reasons detailed only in sealed court records, Doty’s parole was revoked. He was fired by the city in July, and in August he was ordered to serve eight months in prison followed by two years of supervised release.