By Bill Estep
Lexington Herald-Leader
PIKE COUNTY, Ky. — A former rural fire chief in Kentucky who stole more than $75,000 from the department he headed has been sentenced to a year in jail.
Christopher Chapman also owes $76,854 in restitution under the sentence, according to the court record.
Chapman, 36, was chief of the Blackberry Volunteer Fire Department in Pike County in the spring of 2022 when the county fiscal court set up a program to give grants to fire departments.
The fiscal court got the money from the federal government under the American Rescue Plan Act, a COVID-19 program aimed at helping communities maintain services during the pandemic, and set some aside to help fire departments.
Chapman registered a company that purportedly sold fire safety gear and told other members of the Blackberry department he could get equipment at cost, but didn’t tell them he owned the company, according to the court record.
The Blackberry department received two grants totaling $50,000 from the pot of federal money, as well as other funding, and ordered $76,854 worth of equipment from the company Chapman had created, including protective gear for firefighters.
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Chapman didn’t deliver any equipment and stole the money, he acknowledged in his plea agreement.
Chapman faced a sentence of six to 12 months under advisory guidelines.
His attorney, Andy Markelonis, sought a sentence of home detention for Chapman, pointing to his steady work record and the fact that being a convicted felon will penalize him.
However, the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany Dunn-Pirio, argued for jail time for Chapman.
The prosecutor said the theft was “particularly egregious” because Chapman knew the Blackberry department badly needed money after being damaged in two floods.
The thefts put firefighters’ lives and the community at risk, the prosecutor said.
Chapman owes $65,854 to the county fiscal court and $11,000 to the Kentucky Fire Commission.
U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell sentenced him on April 7.
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