Steve Sanguedolce, chief of the Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department, resigned amid accusations he used department payroll funds to pay other firefighters to step in for him at the Houston Fire Department.
Although no charges have been filed, the FBI and Montgomery County District Attorney's office seized records and other information that they think could provide clues to what went down when Sanguedolce was in charge. They are trying to prove Sanguedolce violated two sections of the Texas Penal Code: Abuse of Official Capacity and Theft.
"The question, in this case: Were taxpayer funds from the Magnolia department used to cover those shifts?" said (Brett) Peabody, a member of the DA's Felony Intake office. "There are also questions as to whether this was done as part of compensation or done with criminality and without approval."
The accusations were brought by Thomas Dillion, who was fired by Sanguedolce in January. He said he believed Sanguedolce was writing checks to reimburse firefighters who were never employed by MVFD.
Department expenses must be approved by the board of directors, but they were unaware of the reimbursements, Dillion said. Sanguedolce could not be reached by the Chronicle nor the The Courier. The department secretary Sally Trimble, who also kept employee timesheets on her computer, was also unavailable and reportedly hadn't returned to work since Friday.
Houstonist thinks if Sanguedolce had seen Multiplicity like we did, he would have known the only way to get away with having someone cover your shift at work is to clone yourself.
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