A former paramedic who pleaded guilty to burglary and other charges for breaking into a 90-year-old woman's Rancho Bernardo home after responding there for a medical emergency the previous night was sentenced Thursday to four years in state prison.
Nicholas Conniry, 44, who was previously employed by Falck Mobile Health, was among the medics and fire personnel who responded to the Willa Taylor's Casero Road home on the night of July 3 because her husband was experiencing a medical emergency.
The following morning, Taylor saw a man in her backyard removing the screen on one of the back windows of her home, she testified at a preliminary hearing last year. The window was locked, so, Taylor testified, she watched the man move to a sliding glass door, which was also locked.
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Taylor also told the court that Conniry, who was dressed in his medic's uniform and gloves, opened her sliding glass door, then claimed he was there to get additional information from her for a work-related report.
"Don't you remember me? I was here last night with your husband," Conniry told Taylor, according to her testimony.
Conniry told Taylor he was there to ask her some questions in order to complete his report, but she told him to leave. After Conniry left, Taylor went to the hospital to visit her husband. Sadly, the man had had a seizure and died after being taken to the hospital.
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According to preliminary hearing testimony, Conniry later returned to the home when she was gone but was confronted by one of her neighbors, who told investigators that Conniry arrived at the home in his personal vehicle and made similar claims about needing more information from the woman.
Conniry was arrested for burglary, but when officers went to the firehouse where he worked, they found evidence that he may have been involved in other criminal activity. Medical records of dozens of patients were found in his personal locker. On the back of one of those records, someone had written Taylor’s address.
Detectives searched Conniry’s white pick-up and said they found a black backpack with two vials of fentanyl and loaded handguns.
Searches of two of Conniry’s homes in Temecula and San Diego uncovered several other guns, including assault rifles, ammunition, and gun parts and tools used in the assembly of ghost guns, testimony showed.
Conniry also pleaded guilty to unrelated charges that involved possessing an assault weapon and the personal identifying information for several people found inside his work locker and bedroom.
