Fire chief pleads guilty to theft
Trinity Standard -

TRINITY – Jesse Baker, former chief of the 356 Volunteer Fire Department, has been sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to theft charges. The sentence, which also included a $500 fine and 120 hours of community service, came as part of a plea bargain accepted Tuesday, Feb. 28, by 411th District Judge Robert Trapp in Groveton. The restitution payments will be made in monthly installments over the next several years. During Tuesday’s court hearing, Baker formally waived his right to have the case reviewed by a Trinity County grand jury and entered his guilty plea to a state jail felony theft charge presented by District Attorney Joe Ned Dean. The maximum penalty for a state jail felony is imprisonment for up to two years in a state jail. Baker was accused of stealing $5,000 from the 356 VFD during 2011 in the form of a number of fire department checks, which he wrote to himself, Baker and his wife, Gina Baker, were the two people authorized to sign the department’s checks. The question of the missing money arose following a fire last summer, which destroyed the 356 VFD fire station in the Carlisle community. As members of the fire department’s board began looking at ways to replace the uninsured building and equipment, they began to believe major problems existed in their finances. When County Auditor Sheila Johnson was asked by the board to look into the situation, she uncovered the missing money as well as a number of other issues regarding the lack of control and oversight of the department’s money. During a 345 VFD board meeting in November, both Baker and his wife were dismissed from the department. Mrs. Baker had served as their treasurer. As part of that board meeting Johnson presented her report which included a number of recommendations to re-establish financial oversight. Included in those recommendations was to never again have two people from the same household authorized to sign department checks. During a report presented last week to county commissioners, the department’s new treasurer, Debbie Barrett, said all of Johnson’s recommendations have now been implemented. Following last week’s sentencing, the district attorney said he felt the sentence gave the fire department its best chance at recovering its missing money. “They brought this matter to me after they had done a lot of their own investigation and I met with their board to discuss options. This way will allow them to recover their funds,” he said. When asked if more than $5,000 had been taken prior to 2011, Dean indicated that there was no way to know for sure. “The fire they had last summer destroyed almost all of their records. We can get copies of the bank statements but the receipts that would show what were legitimate expenses and what were not were all destroyed,” he said. He added the $5,000 identified by the county auditor were the only funds that could be formally included in the theft charge,