By Matt Ledesma
The Times Record News
ARCHER COUNTY, Texas — An Archer County grand jury returned indictments on 52 counts of theft against a former Archer City volunteer fire chief accused of improperly using department funds.
Scott Burkett, the target of an investigation into the unauthorized use of department funds since August, was indicted on the charges Monday, according to District Attorney Jack McGaughey. Burkett was relieved of his duties as the volunteer fire chief about the same time the allegations were first brought to light.
McGaughey said Burkett was not in custody as of Tuesday morning, but he expected Burkett to turn himself in to local authorities within days.
McGaughey was not able to go into details of the accusations because of the pending case, he said. He did confirm the alleged thefts were believed to have been taken in various amounts of money during a period of about a year.
McGaughey said the charges were considered a second-degree felony because of the amount of money involved and because the allegations were made against the former public servant. If convicted, Burkett’s punishment could range from 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.
In August the Times Record News received an email from Archer City Manager George Huffman after hefirst learnedof the investigation by the district attorney’s office. The email said the Archer City VFD was fully cooperating in that investigation.
It was later learned Burkett was the sole target of that investigation.
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