Paramedic gets 13-year prison sentence for assaulting woman

URBANA, Ill. (AP) - A central Illinois paramedic was sentenced Tuesday to 13 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman while she was in an ambulance.

In sentencing Jeffrey Sanford Jr., Champaign County Circuit Judge Randy Rosenbaum said the paramedic destroyed the public trust in calling for an ambulance.

The judge in October found the 48-year-old Sanford of Gifford guilty of criminal sexual assault. Sanford was accused of forcing a 49-year-old suicidal woman to perform oral sex on him in an ambulance on July 21, 2019. Assistant State's Attorney Kristin Alferink presented evidence linking Sanford to sexually inappropriate conduct with a 10-year-old girl, a woman who called for an ambulance and an 89-year-old woman with dementia.

The victim of the crime Sanford was convicted of read an impact statement to the judge, describing herself as paranoid, unable to leave her home, be in small spaces or sleep well.

Arguing for the maximum 15-year prison sentence, Alferink said Sanford's victim is 'œbroken'ť and had attempted to take her life recently.

Defense defense attorney Anthony Bruno called his client 'œimperfect'ť but noted he has saved at least 25 people from cardiac arrest and delivered 36 babies in his 20-plus years as a paramedic.

vered 36 babies in his 20-plus years as a paramedic.