Fire Chief charged in fundraiser theft.

**Pudge** · 09-14-07, 01:36 PM

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/14114035/detail.html

TRAFALGAR, Ind. -- The chief of Trafalgar's volunteer fire department was arrested on suspicion of stealing hundreds of dollars donated to one of his ill firefighters, a prosecutor said.

Authorities said Tony Napier is accused of stealing money from a fundraising drive that he spearheaded for a firefighter who suffered a brain aneurysm.

The money was meant to offset the firefighter's medical bills, WRTV-TV in Indianapolis reported.

The drive raised more than $1,200, Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner said.

"About $360 went to the family, and (Napier) is alleged to have kept $900 for himself," Hamner said.

Napier, 37, was arrested on a theft charge. He doesn't dispute that some of the money is missing, but he blames a bank for the problem, authorities said.

The ill firefighter's son, Joe Abbott, who also is a Trafalgar volunteer firefighter, said he refuses to believe the worst about his chief. He said Napier "was one of the very few people that was there to help when we needed the help."

"I know the man. He would help anybody anytime, no matter what it is," Abbott said.

Charles Dickens, another Trafalgar volunteer firefighter, said the theft allegation surprised him.

"I can't see where Tony would do something like that, but things happen," Dickens said.

Because of the arrest, Napier was put on unpaid administrative leave from his full-time job as a Greenwood fire dispatcher.

His status as chief of the volunteer fire department in Trafalgar hasn't been determined, the television station reported.