More in department under fire

By MATT THACKER
Matt.Thacker@newsandtribune.com

October 11, 2008 02:08 am

— The fallout from a former fire department officer’s alleged credit card theft may not be finished yet.
Three days after a former Charlestown Volunteer Fire Department property officer was charged with stealing about $6,000 from a department credit card account, an emergency membership meeting was called to investigate more discrepancies involving receipts.
The Charlestown Fire Board had asked Chief Lee Slaughter and Treasurer Mark Goodlett to appear before them Thursday night to answer questions regarding fuel purchases that showed up in an audit of 2007 financial records, said President Charlie Moon.
Goodlett attended the meeting, while Slaughter did not.
“A lot of the questions were answered with proof shown to us (by Goodlett),” Moon said. “We have a few other discrepancies still, but it’s just minor right now.”
Goodlett, who also serves on the Charlestown City Council, retired Tuesday from his position as treasurer effective at the end of this year. Moon said the retirement is not related to the pending investigation.
Goodlett said he will remain on the city council but could not comment on anything relating to the fire department because it is against departmental policy.
The fire department hired an outside company to perform an audit of its records. Moon said the 2007 audit has been finished and is being turned over to the State Board of Accounts, which will conduct its own investigation. The company will begin an audit of 2008 records shortly.
Bruce Pigman, 35, the department’s former property officer, is being charged with theft and fraud, both class D felonies.
According to a probable-cause affidavit, Pigman spent almost $6,000 using two department credit cards since November without providing receipts for the purchases. Clark County Prosecutor Steve Stewart said “scores” of purchases were for personal items.
One of the credit cards was for purchasing fire-related equipment, and the other was gasoline purchases. Pigman was not required to seek authorization for most types of purchases, according to the affidavit. The alleged theft was not noticed until after he stopped coming to the fire station this summer.
The Indiana State Police arrested Pigman in Evansville on Monday. He was transported to the Michael L. Becher Adult Corrections Complex on Wednesday and has since been released.
Multiple sources said that prior to Thursday night, the board was prepared to fire one or more officials at the meeting. Although that did not happen, the issue is not going away.
“We’re just wanting to get all the facts out right now,” Moon said.
Slaughter will still be asked to appear before the board to answer questions at the regularly scheduled meeting in November.
A reporter for The Evening News was not allowed to attend Thursday night’s meeting because it was closed to the public. Moon said the meeting was closed because it was a membership meeting and dealt with personnel issues.
Pigman was contacted by telephone Thursday night, but said he did not want to comment at this time. Slaughter did not respond to voice mail messages left on his cell phone Friday.