A paramedic accused of breaking into a 90-year-old woman’s Rancho Bernardo home was ordered Thursday to stand trial on charges that include burglary.
Nicholas Conniry, 43, who was previously employed by Falck Mobile Health, is accused of breaking into the victim’s Casero Road home on the morning of July 4. He had responded there for a medical emergency the previous night.
In addition to burglary, Conniry is also facing an identity theft count related to personal identifying information for several people found inside his work locker and bedroom, as well as drug possession and firearm-related charges.
The Casero Road resident testified Thursday during a preliminary hearing that she called 911 on the night of July 3 because her husband was having a seizure. Medics and fire personnel arrived and took her husband to a hospital.
The woman said when she returned home, she saw a man in her backyard removing the screen on one of the back windows of her home.
She saw Conniry, who was dressed in his medic’s uniform and gloves, eventually open her sliding glass door.
The woman asked him what he was doing and he responded, “Don’t you remember me? I was here last night with your husband,” she testified.
He explained that he was there to ask her some questions in order to complete his report, but she refused and told him to leave.
After Conniry left, the woman went to the hospital.
According to preliminary hearing testimony, Conniry later returned to the home when she was gone, but was confronted by one of the woman’s neighbors. The neighbor told San Diego police that Conniry arrived at the home in his personal vehicle and made similar claims about needing more information from the resident.
At the end of the hearing, Conniry’s defense attorney, Howard Williams, argued the burglary count should be dismissed because no evidence was presented indicating Conniry had any intent to steal anything from the home.
Deputy District Attorney Miriam Hurtado argued Conniry was “shocked” to find the woman still at home and repeatedly tried to get into the home “under the guise that he need(ed) additional information.”
Other testimony from the hearing indicated that following Conniry’s arrest, police discovered a handwritten note inside his work locker bearing the victim’s home address, as well as medical documents containing the personal information of around two dozen people.
District Attorney’s Investigator Dorian Meneses testified that he contacted several of the people listed on the documents Conniry possessed and they told him they had not given anyone permission to obtain their information.
Investigators also found fentanyl and other drugs inside his vehicle. At his residences in San Diego and Temecula, police located numerous firearms, as well as items that could be used to manufacture unserialized firearms sometimes referred to as “ghost” guns.
Williams argued the personal information and drugs were items his client would reasonably come across in the course of his work as a paramedic.
The attorney said there was no evidence that Conniry had the personal information with any intent to defraud anyone, and that the defendant might have had a prescription for the medications, as the prosecution hadn’t shown otherwise.
– City News Service
