By FireRescue1 Staff
WESTPORT, Mass. — A man who was charged with larceny for demanding thousands of dollars after pretending to fix a fire truck has returned the money to the department.
Turn to 10 reported that Thomas Reardon recently demanded the Westport Fire Department pay him more than $15,000 after being hired to fix their engine pumper, but he allegedly only painted over an area to hide rusty bolts and claimed it was fixed.
Police said Reardon later admitted to not fixing the truck and emailed the department asking for a chance to repay the money they gave him.
According to investigators, Reardon later stopped communicating with them and they found that his business location had been abandoned. He was arrested and charged with larceny.
“This wasn’t a situation where a mechanic did a poor repair job, this was a crime to pretend the truck was fixed and accept over $15,000 from public safety heroes who risk their lives on a regular basis,” police said.
Reardon later paid back the money before appearing in court on June 12, according to the report. Because he paid the department back, the judge dropped the charges against him.