MATHEWS -
A circuit court judge stunned a crowded courtroom Monday and ordered Paul Reardon jailed after the former treasurer for the Mathews County Volunteer Fire Department admitted he embezzled more than $200,000 from the organization.
Judge R. Bruce Long said it would "send the wrong message" to let Reardon go home before his sentencing in September.
"He's stolen $200,000 in the course of two years while holding a position of public trust," Long said. "If I let him remain on bond, the message that sends is that it is OK to steal $200,000, come in plead guilty, be found guilty, and go back home that afternoon. That's not going to happen."
Reardon, a former state trooper, was arrested in January but not jailed. He was allowed to remain free on bond. The judge's order on Monday was unusual because not even the special prosecutor asked that Reardon be put in jail before sentencing.
Deputies moved Reardon out of the court in front of more than 50 of Reardon's friends, family and neighbors occupying every seat in the room. A handful of uniformed firefighters sat behind the prosecutor.
Special Prosecutor Robert Hicks of Gloucester County told the judge how state police uncovered 102 unauthorized transactions involving more than $221,000 tied to Reardon. An accountant hired by Reardon's attorney largely agreed with police, but put the total theft at $216,500.
Hicks said the plea agreement does not contain any indication of how much time Reardon will serve. That will be solely up to the judge. The maximum, according to the judge, is 20 years. In exchange for the guilty plea, Hicks dropped three other embezzlement felonies.
Reardon served three decades as the fire department treasurer. In January, shortly after new fire department leaders were elected, they discovered missing money. At first the loss was put at just over $100,000, but in court Monday the prosecutors said it was more than double that, all stolen in just two years. During those years, the fire department was operating in the red, according to federal financial statements.
"We had some projects we had to put on hold," said Fire Chief Ricky Tomlinson. "We had a piece of apparatus we were getting ready to order and we didn't. We were in the process of building a new fire station in the upper part of the county, and all of that was put on hold."
But even as the department seemed mysteriously short of money, many in Mathews, including Tomlinson, said they refused at first to believe the 30-year-treasurer had done anything wrong.
"It was very hard," Tomlinson said. "I did not believe it myself until I saw it in black and white. We basically had to convince all of our members. We put it out at our meetings, these are the figures. We gave everybody copies of it and said, this is what's happened. The state police are going to take it from here."
Judge R. Bruce Long said it would "send the wrong message" to let Reardon go home before his sentencing in September.
"He's stolen $200,000 in the course of two years while holding a position of public trust," Long said. "If I let him remain on bond, the message that sends is that it is OK to steal $200,000, come in plead guilty, be found guilty, and go back home that afternoon. That's not going to happen."
Reardon, a former state trooper, was arrested in January but not jailed. He was allowed to remain free on bond. The judge's order on Monday was unusual because not even the special prosecutor asked that Reardon be put in jail before sentencing.
Deputies moved Reardon out of the court in front of more than 50 of Reardon's friends, family and neighbors occupying every seat in the room. A handful of uniformed firefighters sat behind the prosecutor.
Special Prosecutor Robert Hicks of Gloucester County told the judge how state police uncovered 102 unauthorized transactions involving more than $221,000 tied to Reardon. An accountant hired by Reardon's attorney largely agreed with police, but put the total theft at $216,500.
Hicks said the plea agreement does not contain any indication of how much time Reardon will serve. That will be solely up to the judge. The maximum, according to the judge, is 20 years. In exchange for the guilty plea, Hicks dropped three other embezzlement felonies.
Reardon served three decades as the fire department treasurer. In January, shortly after new fire department leaders were elected, they discovered missing money. At first the loss was put at just over $100,000, but in court Monday the prosecutors said it was more than double that, all stolen in just two years. During those years, the fire department was operating in the red, according to federal financial statements.
"We had some projects we had to put on hold," said Fire Chief Ricky Tomlinson. "We had a piece of apparatus we were getting ready to order and we didn't. We were in the process of building a new fire station in the upper part of the county, and all of that was put on hold."
But even as the department seemed mysteriously short of money, many in Mathews, including Tomlinson, said they refused at first to believe the 30-year-treasurer had done anything wrong.
"It was very hard," Tomlinson said. "I did not believe it myself until I saw it in black and white. We basically had to convince all of our members. We put it out at our meetings, these are the figures. We gave everybody copies of it and said, this is what's happened. The state police are going to take it from here."
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