Published: June 06, 2007 10:59 pm      

Former chief, EMS director plead in court

2 charged with theft

CATLETTSBURG — The former chief of the Cannonsburg Volunteer Fire Department and the current director of Boyd County Emergency Medical Services both pleaded not guilty Wednesday to felony theft charges.

Steve Clevenger and Tom Adams were named in indictments returned last month by a Boyd County grand jury charging them with one count each of theft by failure to make required disposition.

The charge against Clevenger is in addition to the numerous counts that he and his wife, Angie, the fire department’s former secretary, were already facing for alleged misappropriation of department funds.

The indictments against Clevenger and Adams allege that in August 2002, the two men used $2,340 in fire department money to lease equipment from Whayne Supply Co. for Clevenger’s personal use.

The charges stem from an investigation of the fire department’s financial records that was launched after the department’s governing board turned over the records to the Kentucky State Police in January 2006.

According to Special Prosecutor Kimberly Compton, Adams — a longtime paramedic and Cannonsburg firefighter who took over as Boyd EMS director in August — was charged because his name was on the check that was used to pay for the equipment rental.

Compton, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Lawrence, Johnson and Martin counties who was appointed to the case after then-Boyd Commonwealth’s Attorney J. Stewart Schneider recused himself, said she wasn’t sure what type of equipment was rented or what it was used for.

Adams’ attorney, David Mussetter, said his client had done nothing wrong and that he was shocked he had been indicted.

According to Mussetter, the checks used by the fire department required two signatures. Adams, he said, would often sign groups of blank checks so they would be available whenever they were needed.

“It wasn’t uncommon for him to provide one of the required two endorsements,” he said. “He just assumed (the checks) were being used for proper departmental purposes.”

Adams was not present when the equipment was rented and it was not used to benefit him in any way, Mussetter said.

Mussetter also said that the Boyd EMS board of directors was aware of the charge against Adams, and that it “has not affected his employment” with the agency. He also is still a member of the fire department, he said.

Both defendants were arraigned Wednesday before Boyd Circuit Judge Marc I. Rosen.

Compton said the new charge against Clevenger would be tried at the same time as the others against he and his wife. The Clevengers’ trial is set for Sept. 10. Rosen scheduled an October trial date for Adams.

The Clevengers were indicted in August of last year on a total of 21 counts of theft by failure to make a required disposition. Seventeen of the charges are felonies; the remaining four are misdemeanors. The indictments charge that the couple stole more than $5,000 in department funds between March 2003 and July 2005.

The Clevengers both were relieved of their duties in March 2006 following a hearing before the Cannonsburg Fire Protection Board of Trustees.

In addition to theft, Angie Clevenger is charged with one count of perjury for allegedly lying under oath at a board of trustees meeting regarding expenditures of department money.

Angie Clevenger resigned her paid position as the fire department’s secretary and was dismissed as a volunteer firefighter by the board at the same time her husband was terminated as chief. Steve Clevenger had been a member of the department since 1973 and a full-time employee since 1996.

The board found the couple guilty of official misconduct after firefighters raised allegations that the Clevengers had misspent money from the vending machines at the fire station which, under department bylaws, was to have been used for the benefit of the firefighters.

The Clevengers maintained the board had given them carte blanche to spend the money as they saw fit, as long as the expenditures were for the benefit of the department.