Judge orders former fire chief to account for missing $15K

Feb. 27--ROCKLAND, Maine -- The former South Thomaston fire chief has been ordered by a judge to account for approximately $15,000 that went missing from the town's fireman's association after it was allocated to help buy a new fire truck.

Justice William Stokes, in his Feb. 14 ruling, ordered that former Fire Chief Wayne Brown, along with former firefighter Colin Grierson, to come up in the next month with a detailed list of "any and all withdrawals and/or disbursements from the [South Thomaston Firemen's] Association's funds."

The South Thomaston Firemen's Association, formed by Brown about 25 years ago, worked alongside the municipal fire department and helped to fundraise for the department by hosting community events. In the event that the Association ever disbanded, which it did in 2007, all the money was to be turned over to the the town to be used by the fire department, according to the ruling.

Once members voted to dissolve the Association, the town Board of Selectmen wrote a letter to Grierson, who had been the vice president of the association, to figure out "the status of the distribution of the Association's monies."

Shortly after, Grierson told the council that the leftover money -- about $10,000 -- would be used to purchase a Class A pumper fire truck. Grierson assured the board the funds would be turned over once a fire truck was purchased, according to the court document.

But the funds were never transferred to the town. John Spear, former administrative assistant for the town, contacted Grierson in 2014, as the department was slated to buy a new fire truck, to inquire about the whereabouts of the money.

According to the court document, Grierson told Spear he had "washed his hands" of those funds and assumed the state had the money.

Spear began sifting through the association's past bank records and discovered that on July 15, 2010, Brown had closed an association account with $14,783.48 at Camden National Bank in 2010. Grierson's name was also on the account. "That same day, Wayne Brown opened an account at TD Bank in the name of South Thomaston Fireman's Association," and Grierson was listed as an authorized signatory, according to the ruling.

Brown, who was fire chief until his resignation in 2006, was questioned by Spear, but he never offered a clear explanation of why accounts were opened and closed and money transferred from banks under the Association's name, according to Spear's testimony.

Both Brown and Grierson have told the BDN that they did not recall ever withdrawing those funds or what happened to the money once it was withdrawn.

Former members of the association in 2014 wrote a letter to Maine Attorney General Janet Mills, requesting that she take action against Brown for withdrawing those funds.

The town repeatedly attempted to ascertain the funds after that and eventually filed a lawsuit in 2015, citing five counts of wrongdoing against Brown and Grierson. The attorney general's office intervened in the case earlier this year and cited three counts of wrongdoing by Brown and Grierson, including breach of fiduciary responsibility and misallocation of charitable funds.

The civil trial, which lasted one day, took place in October in the Knox County Unified Court. Attorney Walter McKee, who represents Brown and Grierson, argued that his clients did not err in their actions because the truck purchased by the town was not the one agreed upon. Brown also said during the trial that he closed the association's account at Camden National Bank because he did not like the bank's paperwork.

One of Grierson's arguments, which Justice Stokes ultimately disagreed with, was that because the association was not a charitable organization, the town was not entitled to those funds unless it purchased exactly what the association said it would fund -- a Class A pumper fire truck. South Thomaston Fire Chief Brian Calderwood testified that the department purchased a truck like that in 2014.

The town requested that the amount be repaid in full. Justice Stokes gave Brown and Grierson 30 days to account for the whereabouts of those funds, with an added $1,977 to account for interest that has accrued over the years.

Stokes is expected to issue a final ruling on the matter after the 30 days have passed.

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