THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070306
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KITTY HAWK LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
A Dare County jury has found that two officers with the Kitty Hawk volunteer fire department were not guilty of embezzling money.
Deputy Chief Michael W. Askew, 38, and Chief Engineer Randy N. West, 38, said Monday that they are relieved that the ordeal - which has lasted for more than three years - is over. As a result of the case, firefighters no longer are allowed to charge the department for personal purchases with repayment later.
But for former fire department treasurer William Keith Duke, 41, an even longer ordeal is just beginning. After the jury on Friday pronounced Askew and West innocent, a Superior Court judge sentenced Duke to five years in jail for defrauding the fire department. Duke had pleaded guilty last fall to a federal charge of embezzling more than $3,000 from the department's relief fund.
Outer Banks attorney Irvin Aldridge, who represented Duke in his guilty plea, said Monday that he was disappointed that the judge gave his client a five-year sentence. Duke stood to serve 10 years under the maximum sentence. State sentencing guidelines recommend three years.
In early spring 1992, Askew - who then was the fire department's chief - and other volunteer firefighters noticed that money was missing from the Fireman's Relief Fund, which provides assistance for injured firefighters and for families who have lost their homes to fire. Askew told the Kitty Hawk town board about the missing funds. Town officials called the State Bureau of Investigation.
``When we confronted Duke with the situation, he paid the money back,'' West said Monday. ``But he'd had it for a couple of years. If we hadn't asked him about it, there's no knowing whether it would've been reimbursed.''
After a yearlong State Bureau of Investigation inquiry, a Dare County grand jury charged Duke in May 1993 with embezzling money from the relief fund. Askew and West were charged with two counts each of felony corporate malfeasance and two counts each of misdemeanor conversion - using a public office for private gain. Last week in Dare County Superior Court, Askew and West pleaded not guilty to all four charges.
After less than 15 minutes of deliberation Friday afternoon, a jury found them innocent.
``Askew was alleged to have used fire department charges to purchase $308 worth of items from Murray Auto Supply for his personal use between June 1990 and December 1991,'' said his attorney, John C. Graham III. ``He also was charged with using the fire department credit card to buy $229 worth of personal purchases from the Home Shopping Network and other places between March 1991 and May 1992.
``It was a commonly accepted practice and policy within the Kitty Hawk fire department for members to make personal purchases on fire department charges then repay the money,'' Graham said Monday. ``My client repaid all ofthose charges in 1992 - long before any embezzlement charges were leveled. He had no intention of defrauding the fire department of anything. If he did, he certainly wouldn't have called in the SBI on himself.
``We're not saying this was the proper way for the fire department to do business,'' Graham said. ``But it was the accepted practice within that department.''
West was charged with billing $152 worth of personal purchases at Ace Hardware to the fire department's credit account during December 1991. He also was accused of charging $466 of personal supplies at the Murray Auto Supply store on the fire department account between February 1990 and October 1991, said his lawyer, Russell Twiford.
Like Askew, West repaid all of the money before he was indicted by the grand jury.
``He worked as a volunteer for that department for 14 hours or more a week. He was on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for his town,'' Twiford said Monday of his client. ``These guys got $100 a month for gas - no more. They answered an average of six fire calls each month. What they did was approved and ratified by the town's board and every member of the Kitty Hawk Volunteer Fire Department. There were eight other firefighters in that department doing the exact same thing. There was never any criminal intent on anyone's part. They were borrowing money from the fire department one week, then paying it back the next.''
During last week's Dare County Superior Court trial, four fire department members testified that charging personal items on department accounts was an accepted practice. No one from the fire department nor the town testified against Askew or West, their lawyers said. Both men still serve on the department.
``I think this case was good, in the long run, because it helped straighten some things out for the fire department,'' said N.C. Assistant District Attorney Robert Trivette, who prosecuted the case for the state. ``Now, nobody can make personal charges on public funds.''
Most of the Kitty Hawk Volunteer Fire Department's money comes from town taxpayers. In 1993, the department's annual operating budget was $190,000. West confirmed that recent policy amendments will prohibit private use of such public funds.
``In early 1993, we made changes within the fire department so that you can't charge anything personal any more,'' West said Monday. ``We've put safeguards into place ourselves since then so that nothing like this will ever happen again.
``It was a tearful moment Friday afternoon when the jury came back with our innocence,'' West said. ``It's like a 10-ton weight finally has been lifted off our shoulders.''
Askew agreed. ``I still feel like we've been wrongly prosecuted,'' he said Monday. ``Something I caught going wrong just blew up in my face. But after three years of dealing with all this, it feels pretty good to have it all over with.''
Last August, town officials hired their first paid chief, former Nags Head firefighter Lowell Spivey, at a salary of $30,000.
KEYWORDS: TRIAL VERDICT EMBEZZLING FIRE DEPARTMENT by CNB