Former fire chief indicted, allegedly stole money
EVANS MILLS — A former chief of the Evans Mills Fire Department has been indicted on charges that he stole more than $3,000 from the department while serving as chief.
Howard J. O'Brien, 40, of 8435 S. Main St., faces counts of third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property.
The charges were contained in a grand jury indictment unsealed Friday in Jefferson County Court. It is alleged that he stole money from the department between January 2003 and May 2007.
A state police investigator said the charges stem from an accounting audit of the department and an investigation by the state police financial crimes unit. The investigator said the amount allegedly taken has not been determined.
Mr. O'Brien pleaded not guilty to the charges Friday morning and was released on his own recognizance.
Mr. O'Brien, who served 15 years with the volunteer fire squad, resigned as chief in January 2007, citing negative media attention that ensued after the arrest of squad member Thomas P. Real for arson. Following that arrest, it was reported in the Watertown Daily Times and elsewhere that Mr. O'Brien had been convicted in 1987 of two counts of arson.
The then-17-year-old Mr. O'Brien had been convicted for setting fire to a barn in the town of Lorraine and an unoccupied house near Pierrepont Manor. He was sentenced to five months in jail and five years' probation for the acts.
Mr. Real, 31, formerly of Theresa, pleaded guilty in August 2007 to third-degree arson, reckless endangerment and overdriving, torturing and injuring animals as a result of a December 2006 blaze at the Wayne L. Petty farm on County Route 18 in Theresa in which a barn was destroyed and 71 cows inside killed.
He also pleaded guilty at the same time to first-degree sexual abuse for having sexual contact with a child in 2001 and was sentenced on that and the arson count in September 2007 to three to six years in state prison. He is incarcerated at Mohawk Correctional Facility, Rome.
