Gig Harbor Fire District 5 fires lone maintenance worker, cites fraudulent activity
Posted by Susan Schell on July 2nd, 2009
Michael E. Cameron, facilities maintenance technician for Gig Harbor Fire District 5, was fired on June 30 after an internal investigation revealed he had been ordering supplies through the district for personal use.
The move came at a special board meeting on Tuesday, said Joe Quinn, the fire district’s public information officer.
“It appears to us that, allegedly, he was acquiring more than he needs for the job,” Quinn said.
Quinn said Cameron’s job was to order supplies for the fire district. He was a single-man operation who had held the position for about 30 years.
“It was his job to order parts,” Quinn said. “But it was noticed eventually that these orders didn’t seem to match up with his (the district’s) needs. He ordered a lot of PVC pipe, several thousand dollars worth, and lawn sprinklers and controllers.”
Quinn said the fire district has about 10 facilities including stations and maintenance shops that have sprinkler systems, and the district will replace a broken sprinkler head once in a while, but “those don’t require thousands of dollars worth of supplies,” he said.
“The rub is that he has a lawn sprinkler business on the side,” Quinn said.
Calls to Cameron’s lawyers were not immediately returned Thursday morning.
A Gig Harbor Fire and Medic One news release said Cameron had purchased several thousand dollars worth of lawn sprinkler pipe and related materials since February 2002.
“Cameron … ordered an automotive polisher or buffer, related items and a dozen oil filters,” the statement said. “The district has no need for such a buffer; the oil filters are not the type used by the district in its vehicles or its air compressor. None of the foregoing items can be found at the shop or otherwise in the inventory of property at the department.”
The release also said Cameron has a 40-foot boat, which utilizes the types of oil filters he allegedly ordered. Those filters are still unaccounted for.
The case is currently under investigation by the state auditor’s fraud unit.
For more on this story, read the July 8 print edition of The Peninsula Gateway.
July 12th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I have seen him untold times at the downtown hardware store buying basketfulls of stuff over the years. I’ve also seen his fire dept truck parked at the marina where his boat is at many many times.