Indy Channel
MARION, Ind. — A former Marion fire chief was charged Thursday with 14 felony counts, including theft, forgery and official misconduct.
The Grant County Prosecutor’s Office said Stephen Gorrell was involved in what they called a “pattern of racketeering” from 2006 to 2011.
The complaint claims Gorrell sold back vacation and sick time he didn’t earn to get cash. Officials said that in 2010 he sold back seven days and took $1,291.46 and that he sold back five unauthorized vacation/sick days in 2011 to get $947.65.
Prosecutors said Gorrell also took specialty pay he did not earn, including $5,400 for dive team work -- $900 a year from 2006 through 2011.
The complaint also claims that Gorrell took $1,350 for CPR specialty pay that he shouldn’t have received, along with a total of $1,750 for instructor special pay from 2007 to 2011, even though his required certification expired in 2006.
Prosecutors also claim that Gorrell “knowingly or intentionally” helped or caused another person -- Burke Eastes -- to break the law. The City of Marion website lists Eastes as a fire captain.
Investigators said that during a personal rafting trip to West Virginia with several members of the fire department and friends, Gorrell told the firefighters that he wanted to buy them a meal for “going above and beyond” at work.
Prosecutors said, “that after the trip, at the direction of Chief Gorrell, Eastes reported that he signed a blank reimbursement form and was reimbursed” for the meal.
Eastes was suspended with pay, reduced in rank and repaid the city for the meal.
RTV6 has not yet reached Gorrell for comment on the charges against him.