Former official charged with stealing $100,000 from South Fayette fire department
A Bridgeville man will have a preliminary hearing Oct. 20 in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on charges he allegedly took $100,464 from Fairview Volunteer Fire Department in South Fayette Township, where he once served as treasurer.
According to a criminal complaint filed by the Allegheny County district attorney, Frank DeThomas, 60, is charged with theft by deception, receiving stolen property, tampering with records or identification, and theft by unlawful taking. He is free on his own recognizance but had undisclosed non-monetary restrictions placed on him by District Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet.
DeThomas served as treasurer of the fire department until he was voted out in December.
The fire department has a two-signature requirement for its checks, the complaint said. Blank checks were often signed and given to DeThomas, who would provide a monthly Excel spreadsheet of profits and losses, along with a list of bills that were paid on behalf of the fire department, according to court records.
After DeThomas was voted out of office, his replacement found specific instances of multiple checks in excess of $1,400 that were written to Sarris Candy, according to the complaint, which states that the fire department contacted Sarris and discovered the company had received only one department check.
The canceled checks were obtained, and it was discovered one of the checks were payable to DeThomas, according to court records.
The department then examined all the canceled checks back to 2009, when DeThomas became treasurer, and it was discovered between December 2013 to December 2015, DeThomas wrote more than $100,000 in checks payable to himself, the complaint states. Officials said if an officer of the fire department buys something with his own money, he must put in a reimbursement request.
An investigation of the department’s QuickBooks accounting system, which was controlled by DeThomas, showed the checks payable to him were reportedly written to legitimate venders, according to court records.
The complaint, filed Sept. 1, states that DeThomas was shown copies of 40 checks totalling $100,465 payable to him in years 2013, 2014 and 2015. DeThomas said he could not pay all of his bills on his salary and used the money from the fire department to supplement his income, according to the complaint.