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Fairview Volunteer Fire Company treasurer charged with theft | TribLIVE.com
Allegheny

Fairview Volunteer Fire Company treasurer charged with theft

Megan Guza
Megan Guza | Thursday, September 1, 2016 4:51 p.m

A South Fayette man surrendered to authorities Thursday on charges he stole more than $100,000 from the Fairview Volunteer Fire Company, where he’d been treasurer for nearly six years.

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office charged Frank DeThomas, 60, with theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, tampering with records and misapplication of entrusted funds. Police said DeThomas had been treasurer of the South Fayette-based fire company from 2010 until he was voted out in Dec. 2015. As he was training his replacement, the replacement noticed multiple large checks on the books written to Sarris Candies, but when he got the cancelled checks from the bank he noticed some were written to DeThomas, police said.

Further investigation showed other checks, totaling $100,464, written to DeThomas but written up as going to legitimate vendors in the bookkeeping system he maintained, according to the criminal complaint against him. DeThomas was arraigned and released on a non-monetary bond Thursday.

Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff reporter. You can contact Megan at 412-380-8519, mguza@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

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