By Bill Carey
EMS1 Staff
MUNCIE, Ind. — An investigation into alleged exam cheating inside the Muncie Fire Department has resulted in disciplinary action for at least nine EMTs and possibly the end of the career of a longtime Muncie fire captain.
Muncie Fire Chief Robert Mead first learned of the allegations in April. Some members of the department were accused of improperly collecting test questions and answers and then sharing those with co-workers to help them pass their basic and advanced certification exams, WTHR reported.
After WTHR reported on the allegations, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security investigated the incident and informed fire department leadership of the discipline and released a report.
“There were test answers that were passed out to students so that they could cheat on tests,” Indiana State Fire Marshal Steve Jones said. “They broke the rules of the National Registry and they broke Indiana state law when it comes to our ability to give a test. We cannot tolerate it.”
The report states that Captain Troy Dulaney coordinated a “cheating scheme” in which he sent a group text to all eight students in the January 2023 basic EMT certification course. According to the state investigation, which included interviews with over 30 fire department staff members, Dulaney’s unsolicited text included test questions and answers to help EMT recruits pass their National Registry EMT exam.
The report also states Dulaney texted the students after they completed their certification test, “indicating that they should give him test questions and answers from their own NREMT examination.” Investigators said texts from Dulaney “indicated that since he had ‘invested’ in the students and they should ‘invest back in him.’”
The state EMS director revoked all five of Dulaney’s EMS-related certifications for the next seven years. This means Dulaney cannot be an EMT in Indiana for those seven years, the harshest penalty state regulators can take against an EMT.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security also issued a censure to all eight EMTs and placed them on two years of probation and voided the results of their exam. They must retake their National Registry exam within 90 days and pay a $100 civil penalty.