The Hubbard Volunteer Fire Department treasurer faces theft-in-office and tampering-with-evidence charges after police say he misappropriated at least $10,215 of the department’s funds.
Police arrested fire Lt. Richard Wittkugle this week after police and fire department investigations.
The Eagle Joint Fire District, which serves the city and township, conducted an internal investigation into Wittkugle’s accounting practices after fire Chief Ron Stanish noticed discrepancies in his pay sheets, according to a police report.
The internal investigation concluded Wittkugle had reported extra calls on his and other firefighter pay sheets, leading the department to lose thousands of dollars.
From 2013 to 2015, Wittkugle reported an extra 15 to 25 calls each year for his own paycheck. Then in 2016, he reported an extra 86 calls and in 2017, an extra 75.