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Public Safety

Ex-EMT Admits To Sexually Assaulting Teen, 2 Other Victims

The U.S. flag waving in front of the Hall of Justice in downtown San Diego on June 12, 2019.
Alexander Nguyen
The U.S. flag waving in front of the Hall of Justice in downtown San Diego on June 12, 2019.

A former EMT who sexually assaulted three female victims, including one teenager as she was being transported to a hospital in the back of an ambulance, is slated to be sentenced to 10 years in state prison following a guilty plea.

David Carpio, 34, who was working for Balboa Ambulance Service at the time of the offenses, pleaded guilty Tuesday to forcible penetration and sexual battery counts, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. Carpio is slated to be sentenced Nov. 4 in a Vista courtroom.

Carpio was charged with groping one girl as she was being transported in an ambulance on Feb. 9, 2017, in addition to assaulting two other victims on separate occasions in 2014 or 2015, according to a criminal complaint. It was unclear whether the other two incidents occurred while he was on the job.

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One of the victims and her family have also filed suit against Carpio and Balboa Ambulance, in a civil case that remains ongoing.

The civil complaint alleges that on Feb. 9, Carpio "touched her breasts, kissed her neck, drew on her breast, and rubbed the marks away." He also asked for her social media information and contacted her sometime after the incident over social media, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors filed charges against him later that year. The civil case is set to go to trial early next year.

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