Ex-VFD treasurer enters guilty plea for embezzlement

HUNTINGTON - A Hurricane, West Virginia, woman pleaded guilty Monday to embezzling more than $75,000 from the Teays Valley Volunteer Fire Department.

Kathy Sue Gwinn, 52, entered her guilty plea to theft from a program receiving federal funds, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Carol Casto.

Gwinn formerly served as the treasurer of the Teays Valley Volunteer Fire Department. In that capacity, she generated payroll checks for firefighters and signed the payroll checks on a fire department bank account. Gwinn admitted that she volunteered for the fire department and had no authority to write herself checks, nor was she entitled to wages, salary or compensation for her role as treasurer.

Gwinn admitted that beginning in October 2014 and continuing through March 2017, she printed and wrote herself unauthorized checks from the fire department's payroll account, noting on the memo line of the checks that the checks were for payroll, overtime or tax preparation. She admitted that she moved money from one fire department bank account into the bank account primarily used for payroll, and when she transferred those funds, she inflated the amount of the transfer to include enough to cover the unauthorized checks she planned to write to herself.

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