FLASHBACK: How The Post broke the EMT-cheating story on July 21. (
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An EMT who offered $400 to an undercover Post reporter to impersonate him and take his mandatory state-certification exam was arrested yesterday on charges that could send him to prison for four years.
Bernard Shore’s scam “could have meant the difference between life and death for an innocent person,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said.
Shore was exposed by The Post in July after he tried — twice — to hire an impersonator to take the exam that all EMTs need to pass every three years.
In May, Shore, a 10-year volunteer EMT-critical care with the Port Washington, LI, Fire Department, failed the state exam.
He applied to retake the test on July 18. But to make sure he passed it, he placed an ad on Craigslist in June seeking a paramedic or critical-care EMT to impersonate him.
Rice said the state Department of Health, Bureau of Emergency Medical Services spotted the ad and had an undercover contact Shore. Shore offered him $400 and a forged Port Washington Fire Department ID card to take the test for him.
Separately, an undercover Post reporter also contacted Shore and was offered $400 to pass the test.
Rice said Shore contacted the Health Department undercover on July 16 and said he’d changed his mind and would take the test himself.
On the same day, he met with the Post reporter and handed over a fistful of $20 bills and a fake ID to seal the deal. When the reporter identified himself and asked why he did it, a stunned Shore said, “I’ll show you my back,” got in his car and sped off.
The Post revealed the scam on July 21, and Shore was fired a week later.