Documents relating to the Evergreen Fundraiser Theft

updated as of July 29, 2004
These letters have all been posted with the consent of those who wrote them. Each letter is the opinion only of the author.

Article from the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE:

ROSS POLICE SAY FIRE COMPANY FUND-RAISER INVESTIGATION STALLED
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Section: LOCAL
Edition: REGION
Page: N-4
BY MARIA CARPICO PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE


Jeff Carpenter's commentary on the article:
(these comments are attributed to Jeff Carpenter only, and do not reflect any other person's opinion)
         
Fire Chief Frank Mann continues to tell lies and distort the truth over the theft of more than $8000 from the Evergreen Fire Company, based on his quotes in the recent Post-Gazette article.

Of course Fire Chief Frank Mann understands that some members do not want to take a polygraph test.  He is one of the members who is refusing to take a polygraph. Why is he refusing to do so? It could be an easy way to eliminate him as a suspect considering that Frank Mann chaired the committee running the event and Frank was primarily responsible for the ticket sales, which have not been completely accounted for.

Based on the quotes in the article, Frank Mann has again lied about the outside auditor's report. The outside auditor's report absolutely does not say that no theft occurred.  Frank continues to misrepresent the report.

Finally, President Bill Schneider, whom I have known for years and have considered a friend, is unfortunately wrong when he says that this is hard feelings and someone wanting to make waves, and Frank Mann is also mistaken when he was quoted as saying that those who have resigned were upset that "our changes" were not adopted.  I never would pursue issues of philosophical differences in fire company management to this degree.  I have neither the time nor energy to do that, and I do not really care how they structure their management.  What I am pursuing is criminal felony theft.  Theft of thousands of dollars from the fire company and community. While Bill Schneider is quoted as saying that he does not believe the theft occurred, he served on the special audit committee which submitted a report outlining more than $8000 was missing, and the police have independently confirmed the same.

I believe the community needs to decide whether they consider this behaviour to be acceptable to them.  In the end, the fire company serves the community and answers to the community. Is it acceptable to you that your fire chief refuses to fully co-operate with the police investigation?  Perhaps you should enquire of him why he refuses to fully co-operate.  What is he hiding?