By Mike Harris
Ventura County Star
FILLMORE, Calif. — Pete Egedi has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city of Fillmore, which fired him in 2008 over allegations he misappropriated thousands of dollars when he was chief of the Fire Department.
Egedi’s lawsuit seeks a court order directing the city to give him his job back, Egedi’s attorney, Mark Pachowicz, said Friday.
The lawsuit, filed last week in Ventura County Superior Court, also seeks monetary damages, including compensation for all income Egedi lost as a result of being fired, attorney’s fees and general damages for emotional distress.
City Attorney Ted Schneider said he would withhold comment until he is served with a copy of the lawsuit.
But Schneider previously has said Egedi’s termination in 2008 was proper.
In August, Schneider said the decision by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office to charge Egedi with three counts of grand theft and one count of embezzlement, all felonies, “reinforces the city’s decision to separate employment with Mr. Egedi.”
Egedi, 40, of Ventura pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in Superior Court on Friday. He remains free on $10,000 bail and is scheduled to return to court June 28 for a pre-trial hearing. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to four years and eight months in state prison, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Kevin Drescher.
Egedi was chief of the largely volunteer department from 2005 until April 2008, when he was placed on administrative leave by the city after the Sheriff’s Department opened an investigation into the misappropriation allegations. He was fired in October 2008.
Egedi’s lawsuit argues that his termination violated the state’s Firefighter’s Procedural Bill of Rights Act, partly because the city allegedly permitted unlawful searches of his Fire Department locker without his consent, presence or pursuant to a search warrant.
“Furthermore, plaintiff Egedi’s termination violated his constitutional due process rights” in part because he allegedly was not permitted to give a response to the misappropriation allegations to the City Council, the civil complaint states.
The lawsuit additionally argues Egedi’s termination violated the city’s Municipal Code since then-City Manager Tom Ristau allegedly did not obtain the City Council’s consent before firing him.
Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Cary Peterson testified at Egedi’s preliminary hearing last month that his investigation showed Egedi misappropriated thousands of dollars from a city-funded Fire Department bank account that he controlled.
Egedi allegedly gave some of the money to his wife and used other portions of it to fund a city employee’s abortion and to buy a wide screen TV for his personal use.
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