April 03--A Texas Rangers investigation has led to the arrest of a former battalion chief in the Kyle Fire Department on charges of forgery and official misconduct, the most serious trouble for a member of a department that has been in upheaval for two months.
Richard Craig Kolls Jr. is accused of forging checks and stealing up to $3,800 from the department's training programs.
But the problems are deeper at the department, where four high-ranking officials -- including the chief and his wife, who worked as the bookkeeper -- have been ousted since February. The Rangers are still investigating Kolls, with more charges possible.
An interim fire chief is also investigating the department's practice of allowing eight of its 17 employees to use public credit cards to buy personal items, avoiding state sales tax and promising to pay the money back with payroll deductions. The department recently moved to cut a $300,000 projected deficit in the current fiscal year. And a firefighters union official recently admitted stealing money from that group before resigning and paying back the money, interim Fire Chief Clay Huckaby said.
Kolls, 38, was arrested March 26 on charges of forgery and abuse of official capacity. According to arrest affidavits, the department's former bookkeeper, Doris Whitaker, became suspicious of Kolls' activities in September 2012 when she noticed that the number of people in Kolls' training classes did not match the amount of tuition payments coming in to the department.
The department's chief of more than 15 years, Glenn Whitaker, resigned from the department Feb. 11, along with his wife, citing political conflict with the board of Emergency Services District No. 5, which oversees the department.
"I got tired of the politics of it," Glenn Whitaker said.
Whitaker said that he and his wife, along with two other department officials, knew of Kolls' activities and did not notify law enforcement or the district board because they were attempting to ascertain the extent of the activity.
"We spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what was going on," Whitaker said. "I should have (gone to the authorities). In hindsight, I should have. I wasn't trying to protect him or anything."
Kolls was removed from the department Feb. 20 in a reorganization spearheaded by the district's board.
The board became aware of the allegations against Kolls on Feb. 16 at a special meeting. Beth Smith, president of the board and justice of the peace for Precinct 2, said that Kolls' removal was not directly related to the allegations but that his position, along with that of one other battalion chief, was deemed nonessential and the department could not afford it given the budget shortfall.
Kolls oversaw a training program that was projected to bring in $30,000 of revenue a year for the department by offering training classes to other departments and civilians. Halfway into the fiscal year, the program had brought in a little more than $4,000, Smith said.
The affidavits say Whitaker found $3,800 missing from the department's training fund, but public records from the case file do not contain an exact amount that he is suspected of taking and department officials have no idea how much money has been funneled away, Huckaby said.
"This is a very big misunderstanding," said Kolls' attorney, David Sergi of San Marcos. "It's a political problem and should not be a criminal problem. In small departments sometimes there are misunderstandings and things are permitted to happen that wouldn't happen in other departments."
While the investigations continue, it is also unclear whether the union official will face charges.
Huckaby and Smith said the department is on the mend. Firefighter morale is climbing, they said, thanks to policies such as structured pay grades and more regimented schedules. The credit cards have been locked up. Volunteers are returning to the department in higher numbers than anyone has seen in years.
"What's important to the public is the safety of the community and the professionalism of the department and things like response time," said Smith. "And, of course, that taxpayer dollars are being used correctly."
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