A former Navy officer who posed as a paramedic and gave more than 130 people flu jabs will be sentenced in a Brisbane court today. Calvin Jordan Wahlberg, 40, pleaded guilty to forgery and two counts of fraud in the Brisbane District Court after working for more than five years as an emergency medical technician, including on a remote mine site at Emerald, and as a supervisor to other medical staff. During his time at the mine, he distributed 133 influenza vaccines, the court was told. In 2009, Wahlberg falsified certificates and qualifications, including a diploma of paramedical science, to get a job with the private emergency management company who hired him to work at the mine. His cover was sprung in December 2015 when he applied to become a member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Paramedics and he was later charged. Defence barrister Ben Power told the court Wahlberg was hired for a role he had qualifications for but later acted in a role above his station. Mr Power conceded it was unlikely Wahlberg would have been given the job in the first place had he not claimed he was a qualified paramedic. “This is not someone who is a deranged fantasist who is likely to repeat this,” he said during the sentencing hearing on Thursday. “It’s someone who left school, went into the Navy and had to leave in circumstances that were not his choosing, made stupid mistakes still as quite a young person and was working in a field having made false statements and continued on. “The Health Ombudsman has conducted an investigation and he’s now on a banning order so he can’t work in the field of health.” The court heard the 40-year-old had left the Navy after intense bullying over his sexuality. Judge Deborah Richards will sentence Wahlberg today.
