By Lisa Beisel
The Maryland Gazette
Copyright 2007 Capital Gazette Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
RIVIERA BEACH, Md. — County police have charged a former president of the Riviera Beach Volunteer Fire Company with stealing $50,000 from the company according to charging documents obtained yesterday by the Maryland Gazette.
Police have yet to serve Kelly T. McColl, 40 with a warrant they obtained charging him with theft of more than $500 and felony theft scheme, to an official at the District Court in Annapolis said. His last known address was in Surfside Beach, S.C.
According to charging documents dated March 31, Mr. McColl was the treasurer of the organization for 2001 through 2004 and a portion of 2005. He became president later that year, longtime members said.
“Documentation obtained from the current board of directors and various banking institutions and credit vendors confirmed between 2003 and 2005 Kelly McColl issued dozens of checks written off the RBVFD’s bank accounts to satisfy his personal obligations ... such as mortgages, car insurance and personal credit card payments,” investigators wrote in the charging documents filed in District Court.
Mr. McColl allegedly refused to turn over financial information to the new treasurer upon leaving the post in 2005, according to charging documents.
“Kelly McColl did knowingly and willfully take advantage of his possession of trust within the RBVFD as the treasurer, and, on a continuing basis steal money from the fire company. Kelly McColl’s bookkeeping practices, which were void of any tangible paper or electronic cash disbursement ledgers allowed him to conceal, maintain and operate a profitable criminal enterprise,” the documents say.
According to longtime members, Mr. McColl moved to South Carolina in October, citing family reasons.
A former board member said that the board called police in January to look into checks Mr. McColl wrote during his tenure.
Battalion Chief Michael Cox, county Fire Department spokesman, declined to comment, citing the open investigation.
Mr. McColl was president of the board when former volunteer Chief Kenneth Hyde was involved in a dispute with a firefighter in July. That dispute led to an investigation by county officials, which resulted in a 60-day suspension and demotion to firefighter for Chief Hyde.
Jim List, attorney for the fire company, did not return a call for comment yesterday afternoon.
According to a copy of a report by Chief David L. Stokes dated Jan. 21, police and fire department investigators examined whether Chief Hyde ignored the chain of command, threatened witnesses and tried to thwart the investigation of the volunteer company.
The report also included findings about consumption of alcohol by minors and members responding to calls after consumption of alcohol. There were no findings about finances in the report.
According to online state tax records, the Riviera Beach Volunteer Fire Company forfeited its nonprofit tax status Oct. 6 when no one there filed a 2005 property tax return.
A spokesman for Chief Hyde, who was fired last month from his job as training chief for the Baltimore City Fire Department, could not be reached for comment.
Chief Hyde returned to the fire company this month as a firefighter. The demotion ordered by Chief Stokes was to remain in place until all investigations of the company, and his role in the death of a fire cadet during an exercise in Baltimore, are completed.