ICYMI: Farmingdale Man Stole $45K From Glenwood Fire Company: DA

In case you missed it, here's a story that appeared earlier this week in Farmingdale Patch:

BY: PAIGE MCATEE

A former treasurer for the Glenwood Landing Fire Company was arrested Monday for embezzling more than $45,000 from the department’s membership fund as well as stealing money from an arcade machine, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said.

According to the DA, Robert Brown, 50, of Farmingdale, would skim funds from parties parades, and fundraisers that should have gone to support the lifesaving work of the Glenwood Fire Company.

From January 2011 to March 2015, Brown allegedly stole $45,144 by embezzling cash from the fire company’s “Membership Fund” account. As treasurer, he would write checks from this account to the chairperson for fire company events, the DA said. Instead of re-depositing the money into the account once the leftover cash was returned to him, Brown would pocket the cash, the DA said.

“Volunteer firefighters give their time and energy freely to keep our communities safe, which makes these allegations of theft more egregious,” Singas said in a press release.

The DA says Brown also received large sums of cash from the fire company's arcade machine and safe, but never deposited the money into the bank account. These alleged thefts were discovered by fire company trustees when they realized $856 was left over from the 2014 annual children’s Christmas party and the sum was never re-deposited into the account, the DA said.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information regarding this case can contact the District Attorney’s Office.