Ex-Bar Nunn, WY, Fire Chief Admits to Stealing from 'Fill the Boot' Fundraiser

The ex-chief of Bar Nunn Fire Department pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft and another count of official misconduct as part of a plea deal on Thursday morning.

Prosecutors and Robert William Hoover agreed to three to five years in prison — all suspended for three years' probation — and a $500 fine for the offenses on top of paying back the more than $10,500 in damages he caused the department.

Hoover admitted to embezzling thousands of dollars from a Bar Nunn Fire Department "Fill the Boot" fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in the summer of 2024.

Judge Catherine Wilking, who's presiding over the case, is not required to abide by the agreement if she finds it unfit following a presentence investigation, which she ordered on Thursday morning.

Hoover was also accused of other impropriety, including selling his personal Polaris RZR to the fire department well above market value — signing his own name on both sides of the title transfer — and using a fire department credit card for a litany of personal purchases, including Christmas lights for his home and a vacuum.

"We wanted to ensure restitution would be paid," Assistant District Attorney Brandon Rosty said when asked why the state agreed to probation.

He also noted Hoover's "limited criminal history."

The charging affidavit noted Hoover was convicted of grand larceny in 1999, but that charge was reduced to a misdemeanor.

Within the town of Bar Nunn, both Mayor Peter Boyer and interim fire Chief Eugene Zahara said community reaction to Hoover's offense was less than they anticipated.

Boyer said he was expecting a high volume of public comment but hadn't seen anything come up in town council meetings.

"People know about it, but I just don't know if people just really don't care about it at this point either," Zahara said. "Locally in Bar Nunn, they just want to make sure that they have a fire department that's going to respond to their needs."

'A slap in the face'

On Wednesday evening, Zahara said he was so focused on moving on that he wasn't even aware his predecessor was set to plead the next morning.

His style of "moving on" seems to be focused on three things: Recruiting new firefighters and bringing those alienated by Hoover's actions back into the fold.

Zahara was tagged as the interim fire chief in the wake of Hoover's dismissal and faced the unenviable task of bringing the department back together.

"It split the department pretty much in half. When I took over, I had eight volunteers left on the department. Since then, four of them have returned," Zahara said. "And then now we're up to 20."

During Hoover's regular operating time, Zahara estimated the staff of the department to be around "15 or 16."

He's also working on getting certifications and trainings through the fire academy in Riverton, which offers "pretty much free" structural fire training opportunities to rural firefighters.

"I'm just looking for other avenues to help [the city] out ... Fire department history is that they're just drains on cities and towns because they don't bring any money in," Zahara said. "So the way to change that is making sure that we have fire inspectors that can do the inspections, making sure we have plans reviewers so we're not putting that out of the town ... They've been subcontracting some of that stuff out. And if we can bring that back into the fire department, as well as our wildland fire deployment stuff like we can actually be a use to the town."

After all that, Zahara said he hasn't concerned himself with what happened before he was chief.

"The way I've found to get over an incident like that, especially a slap in the face to the fire department and to the community, is to forget the past and move into the future," Zahara said.

Facts of the case

The affidavit filed in the case details a three-month-long investigation conducted by the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office that began with a tip from Bennett Mayer, a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper. Mayer is also a volunteer firefighter in Bar Nunn.

Mayer told sheriff's Cpl. Ken Jividen, who signed the affidavit, another firefighter informed Mayer that Hoover congratulated the department in a business meeting for raising “around $7,000” for the Muscular Dystrophy Association through the department’s annual Fill the Boot fundraiser.

Receipts from the donations — which Jividen said he was provided — only showed $4,667 went to the charity.

The $7,000 figure was backed up by business meeting notes obtained by Jividen.

Mayer told Jividen that during the fundraiser, Hoover personally collected funds by driving between fundraiser sites and collecting the cash in a tote that was in the back of Hoover’s truck.

Jividen said during the course of his investigation, he discovered that the cash was counted at varying points in the homes of Hoover and his daughter.

Another firefighter told Jividen the only people permitted to handle the money were Hoover, his daughter and his son-in-law.

That firefighter also told Jividen that Hoover sold his Polaris RZR 800 to the fire department for $5,500, that most of the materials necessary for the fundraiser — like shirts, signs and stickers — were provided by the Muscular Dystrophy Association and that “there honestly should be no reason whatsoever that $7,300 shouldn’t have been donated.”

Court papers indicated that Jividen obtained the RZR’s title and noted Hoover signed it as both the buyer and seller. The document also was not notarized. A department captain disagreed with Hoover regarding the sale of the vehicle and a representative of a powersports vehicle dealer estimated the value of the RZR — which Jividen found to be in “less than good condition” — to be between $3,500 and $4,000.

Jividen wrote in the affidavit that Hoover also made purchases on a fire department credit card for items like Christmas lights and vacuums through Sam’s Club and Walmart, both online and in-store.

Authorities alleged that after Hoover became aware of the investigation into a misappropriation of donated and fire department funds, he paid the fire department $200 by check for “accidental” use of the credit card, and, on Nov. 15, drafted a bill of sale for the RZR that he had already been paid for.

Multiple items paid for by the fire department credit card were found in the homes of Hoover and his family, according to court papers.