Maine Couple Accused Of Stealing Money From Local Fire Department

In most cases, serving your community is really a selfless act.  This is especially true in mostly rural Maine.  The local governmental positions, like selectmen (selectpeople?) generally do not get paid much.  In some cases, they don't get paid anything.

Of course, just because someone chose to run for one of these local governmental positions, it does not mean they always have the best interest of the town in mind or that they are not capable of breaking the law.

On Friday, a couple who had spent years working with the town, as selectman and fire chief, were arrested for allegedly taking money from the town.

According to WGME, 68 year old Robert Stewart and 57 year old Kelly Stewart were arrested for allegedly taking money from the Sumner Fire Department.  Until recently, Robert was the fire chief for the town and Kelly had been the secretary for the fire department.

Both resigned from those positions on April 25th.  Kelly kept her selectman seat until July 25th.  During that meeting, she resigned from her position on the select board.

The WGME article explains that they were arrested on Friday and each was charged with one felony count of theft by unauthorized taking.  Each was later released on $500 bail.

It appears that an outside company was hired to do an investigation into the Stewarts.  It is unclear how much money they allegedly took.

*All suspects are considered innocent until found guilty in a court of law*

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