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Former treasurer pleads guilty to theft of Hubbard fire district funds
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Richard S. Wittkugle, former treasurer of the Eagle Joint Fire District, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a reduced charge of petty theft for misappropriating fire district funds. The district serves the city of Hubbard and Hubbard Township.
A Trumbull County grand jury indicted Wittkugle, 54, of Hillview Drive, Hubbard, on charges of felony theft in office, grand theft and tampering with records. He could have received prison time, but a misdemeanor petty theft conviction can produce a sentence of only six months in the county jail and a $1,000 fine, Judge W. Wyatt McKay told Wittkugle.
No sentencing date was available after the plea.
Diane Barber, assistant county prosecutor, said in Wittkugle’s role as treasurer he tabulated the type and number of fire calls members of the fire department worked, then turned over that information to the clerk. Firefighters are paid $15 per call and get one check per year.
She said Wittkugle “inflated the number of calls he and other firefighters responded to.” In fiscal year 2016, Wittkugle’s false information resulted in a loss of $5,010 to the department, she said. “Of that amount, [Wittkugle] received $915.”
In the following fiscal year, Wittkugle’s inflated numbers cost the district $5,205. Of that, $4,800 was lost by the fire department, and $405 “came from individual firefighters who should have been paid for calls but were not,” Barber said.
“Of that amount, [Wittkugle] received $1,245,” she said. Wittkugle’s total theft was $2,160, which he has agreed to pay back by the date of his sentencing.
Altogether, the amount of money misdirected by Wittkugle was $8,055, she said.
The investigation by the Hubbard Police Department indicated that 25 firefighters were overpaid over a two-year period.
“The investigation showed no evidence of criminal intent that can be attributed to anyone but [Wittkugle],” Barber said.
She said the recovery of the money from everyone but Wittkugle is a “civil matter, not a criminal one.”
The crimes occurred from Nov. 1, 2015, to Oct. 31, 2017, court records have indicated. He was charged in 2018. Since the incident, the fire department has updated its accounting and payroll methods.