it takes a special kind of thief to steal from the needy and vulnerable

From Jessie Halladay in the C-J...

Suspended McMahan Fire Chief Paul Barth has retired from the department, but his offer to repay about $12,000 to settle allegations of unauthorized personal expenses and salary overpayments has been rejected by the fire district board....The fire district decided to accept Barth’s retirement — but not his money, saying the amount Barth owes will be determined federal investigators....

Since his suspension, more allegations have arisen, including charges that he used a fire district credit card to pay for personal expenses, than made payments on the card from a McMahan Crusade for Children bank account.

Last week, The Courier-Journal reported that bank statements for McMahan’s Crusade account, which Barth controlled, show that payments of $9,500 and $9,123.35 were made in May toward the department credit card.

Those allegations prompted Crusade for Children board to vote unanimously this week to remove Barth as chairman.

Additional bank statements obtained Friday by The Courier-Journal under Kentucky’s open-records laws show that a payment for $7,160 was made in April on the district credit card from the McMahan Crusade account. That raised the total paid from the Crusade account toward the district credit card to more than $25,000.

An additional $16,000 was taken from the Crusade account and put into the general McMahan fire account. It was not clear Friday what that money was used for, and McMahan officials wouldn’t comment....