A former Arkansas fire chief and his father were arrested after they took fire trucks, gear and radios from a fire station, according to a news release.
Former Jenny Lind Fire Chief Brian Allison, 33, and his father, James Dean Allison, 60, both of Jenny Lind, face charges of conspiracy to commit theft, the Sebastian County sheriff’s office said.
The agency began investigating March 29 after Jenny Lind Volunteer Fire Department equipment went missing, the release said. Authorities retrieved most of the missing property from the Cedarville Fire Department in Crawford County on March 30, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.
After interviewing people involved, deputies arrested the Allisons, offiicals said. The sheriff’s office said the pair “had no authority to remove this equipment from the stations.”
After finding the missing property, Sebastian County Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Jeff Turner told the Democrat-Gazette that Jenny Lind firefighters “decided on their own to give [the equipment] to another department."
Earlier this year, Sebastian County passed an ordinance reorganizing its fire districts and dissolving the Jenny Lind Fire Department, the Democrat-Gazette reported. The EMP (Excelsior, Mount Zion, Palestine), Greenwood Rural and White Bluff fire departments were designated to cover the Jenny Lind area, according to the release.
The board of the Jenny Lind Fire Department had voted to give all equipment to the Sebastian County judge’s office until the end of the re-districting, the release said.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
