A former Fairfield Glade Fire Department treasurer who has been making restitution payments since 2019 for embezzling more than $239,000 has reduced his remaining debt to $49,000, a department official said in updating the community on the situation.
The department’s current treasurer, Kevin Mueller, told the community club board of directors at its May 28 meeting the department does not receive payments from James Charles Botbyl every month as is required but “is still going after” him for the full restitution.
“We’re not going to take the foot off the gas pedal on that,” Mueller said.
Botbyl makes his restitution payments to the fire department through the court system.
The background:
A Cumberland County grand jury in April 2019 indicted Botbyl on a charge of theft in the disappearance of $239,559.78 from the department’s bank account from October 2017-September 2018. The theft was discovered after the bank noted irregularities in the account.
Botbyl pleaded guilty in June 2019 when he paid $65,000 in restitution in Criminal Court, leaving a balance of $174,559.78.
He received an eight-year suspended sentence to be served on probation, with the threat of serving that time in prison unless he made restitution payments of about $1,800 per month.
Mueller said the department’s insurance carrier paid $50,000 to the department as a result of the embezzlement. The department must repay the company that amount if it receives full restitution.
Fire department board Vice President David Corcoran told the Glade Sun that after the embezzlement was discovered, the department created a board of directors to oversee department operations, including its finances.
No employee can access the department’s bank account.
“We now control all of the funds,” Corcoran said in a telephone interview.
He added that two authorized board members must sign all checks and that purchases of at least $2,500 must go before the full board for approval.
Corcoran said that because the process of approving purchases and cutting of checks is done electronically, there are multiple layers of controls, including monitoring.
He also pointed out that the board implemented the practice of having its finances audited by an outside company each year.
“It’s good to have the right controls in place so this sort of thing never happens again,” he said.