Kentucky Fire Chief Used Charity Funds for Personal Expenses

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Courier-Journal has found suspended McMahan Fire Chief Paul Barth used at least $18,000 in Crusade for Children donations to pay off a fire district credit card.

McMahan financial records show charges to the card included Barth's personal expenses.

Charles Ricketts Jr., Barth's attorney, said Friday his client forgot to repay the account but was ready to do so.

Barth has been suspended without pay since Nov. 24. The fire district's board of trustees already has charged him with using the district credit card to make personal purchases totaling at least $35,000.

That includes $15,000 for back taxes on a condominium he owns in Florida and more than $10,800 for taxes and registration on 10 of his personal vehicles.

In addition, an accountant's report found Barth improperly received 14 extra paychecks totaling about $68,000.
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Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com

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Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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you can forget to payback someone a dollar that you borrowed for a cup of coffee, but to forget paying $15,000 taxes and $10,800 for registration? You got to be kidding.
The Chief's (loosely termed) attorney had to come up with some crappy excuse, thus forcing the authorities to prove his guilt. Bottom line? You fellows are right, punish him to the full extent possible.
14 extra paychecks??? Wow unless he writes his own paychecks there are multiple issues with this agency.
this just makes kentucky look bad... and in case some of you arent familar with the crusade for children its a fundraiser in this area to help pay for special needs school buses, medical treatment and continued care for children with medical problems. it also pays for school equipment to help them learn more efficiently and fire departments in the area go door to door in early june to collect the money. most houses donate money. It just makes me so upset that someone would do this. the junior firefighters went door to door doing the running to make the collections this year and we raised just over 18,000 total for bagdad fire department. I guarantee i knocked on a 200 doors and ran 4 miles to get the money for these kids and to find out that someone is stealing from needy children who cant afford the medical treatment needed to keep them alive sickens me... how can people be so heartless
He "forgot" to pay it back....? Now that's some excuse....He shouldn't have been sticking his stinking paws in the till to start with....He is a bum...shouldn't be a Firefighter let alone a Chief...Gives everone in the Department a black eye....belongs in jail......enough said...he isn't worth it.......Paul
10 personal vehicles?
This is surprising how?
Stories like this make the fire service look bad and the excuses are just as lame as "The dog ate my homework."

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