11 Investigates spoke exclusively with the director of Quality EMS in Mars, where Nathan Mitchell had worked as a part-time emergency medical technician.
Mitchell is now accused of sexually abusing four young boys.
Quality EMS said the allegations had nothing to do with their station and the director decided to speak out to set the record straight.
Conrad Pfeifer sat down with Chief Investigator Rick Earle.
“It was a shock for us because we had a very good employee, who had a stellar record here, gave great patient care, passed all of our background checks, state police, child abuse checks. Then, when the news broke, it was very, you know, the crew took it pretty hard, and most of the staff that somebody like that. They couldn’t believe it,” said Pfeifer.
Pfeifer told Earle they couldn’t believe the man they worked side by side with at Quality EMS in Mars is now accused of sexually abusing four children under the age of 13.
Just about a week before State Police filed charges, Pfeifer told Earle he got a tip about Mitchell’s past.
Pfeifer said he was told that Mitchell faced similar charges in California 18 years ago, when he was known as Hollywood talent manager Josh Werkman.
Werkman managed the stars of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
Pfeifer then confronted Mitchell about the accusations.
“He told me everything about California. He came clean about California. He came clean about his past history, the record. It was astonishing to me,” said Pfeifer.
11 Investigates searched the name “Joshua Werkman” and obtained publicly accessible court records online in California, showing Werkman was granted a Certificate of Rehabilitation and Pardon in 2020 for a misdemeanor conviction in 2008 of annoying or molesting a child under 18.
We couldn’t find any more documents about the original case.
An online search led to a TMZ report that Werkman was initially charged with felony sexual battery of a 16-year-old, but pleaded no contest to child molestation and furnishing alcohol to a minor.
Both are misdemeanor charges in California.
Werkman was required to register as a sex offender.
Three years later, in 2011, the court dismissed the charges.
That same year, he changed his name from Joshua Nathan Werkman to Nathan Workman Mitchell.
In 2020, he received the pardon.
At some point, he moved to Pennsylvania with his wife and kids, where he worked at a hospital.
He was active in the community, serving as a volunteer firefighter in the Adams Area Fire District, where officials said he underwent the required background checks as well, and as an EMT for Mars Youth Football.
“Sadly, I think this happens more often than the general public knows,” said Attorney Ben Andreozzi.
Attorney Ben Andreozzi has represented victims of both clergy sex abuse and former Penn State Football Coach Jerry Sandusky, who’s serving 30 to 60 years in prison for sexually assaulting boys, some he met at football camps and others through a nonprofit organization for underprivileged youth.
“Sexual offenders have been doing this for years. They’ve been trying to start new identities and changing their names and moving to other states. I mean that is the calling card for sexual predators,” said Andreozzi.
While Pennsylvania currently does not require EMS workers to undergo criminal background checks unless they are transferring certification from another state, EMS providers, like Quality EMS, have been doing them for years.
Pfeifer said when Mitchell applied for a job, he ran a state police criminal background check as well as a child abuse clearance and a driving history on the name Nathan Mitchell.
Earle: You did the background check?
Pfeifer: Absolutely.
Earle: And there’s nothing there?
Pfeifer: Nothing, on three checks.
Earle: Nothing in his background that indicated he had been in trouble?
Pfeifer: It just says, “Clear.” It doesn’t give us a background, just says basically okay to work. No history found.
In light of this, Quality EMS has changed its application, now requiring applicants to list aliases and any other names they have ever gone by.
The state was working on changes even before Mitchell’s case.
Beginning this January, all new EMS applicants will be required to undergo an FBI background check with fingerprints.
Current EMS workers will be grandfathered in and don’t have to complete the check.
EMS workers from other states, who want to work in Pennsylvania, are also required to undergo the FBI background check.
“We’re trying to be proactive, make sure, one, this never happens again. Two, that we did our due diligence and three, that if anybody is working anywhere else in the state that may have a similar type of background, that it’s not overlooked,” said Pfeifer.
Earle also spoke with several attorneys and legal experts in California, and they said that a pardon essentially wipes the record clean...and a person who’s been pardoned doesn’t have to report that on a job application.
They told Earle, it’s like the case never happened.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health declined to discuss specifics about Mitchell’s background checks, but they sent a statement to 11 Investigates about the rules and regulations.
“While there is no requirement in the EMS System Act for the state to conduct a background check, the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services goes above and beyond what is required by state law and conducts state-level background checks on all certification by endorsement applicants. These are individuals who are already certified as an EMS provider in another state or through the National Registry of EMTs (NREMT) and can become a provider in Pennsylvania without having to repeat their full training and examinations again. This is not specific to Pennsylvania, as other states conduct similar background checks on certification by endorsement applicants.”
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