Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to make clear that the an official with the William Penn Fire Company was contacted as part of the investigation. A previous version of this story stated that the fire company official contacted police.
A Penndel man was charged Thursday afternoon for allegedly bilking his employer and not completing work for a local volunteer fire company.
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John Douthart, 51, is accused of receiving payment for work he performed as an employee of Fire Safety Plus. Authorities say that Douthart failed to turn the profits of jobs he completed as their employee over to the company.
Police report in court papers that Douthart bilked over $3,540 from his employer.
According to court documents, Douthart performed work at gas stations, a dentist’s office, a T-Mobile kiosk at the Oxford Valley Mall, a palm and tarot card reading location and several other Lower Bucks County businesses. Police say the 51-year-old received payment and never reported the work to his boss.
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The deputy chief at the William Penn Fire Company was contacted as part of the investigation, as Douthart was known to have completed work there. Concerns were raised over work Douthart alleged he completed this summer at the fire station on Brist0l-Oxford Valley Road.
A re-inspection of the fire station in August, after Douthart was fired from his job for unrelated reasons, showed the work claimed to have previously completed were not carried out properly. Examples cited were that cartridges which were to be replaced in summer were actually left over from the 1970s or 1980s and that Douthart just applied his employer’s stickers on fire extinguishers without performing the work, according to court papers.
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The invoiced submitted for the work indicated Douthart should have spent several hour at the fire station. However, the deputy chief told police Douthart was only at the station for about five minutes.
The fire station was charged $338 for the work, which was not properly completed.
Police say Douthart worked for Fire Safety Plus since 2007 and the company’s owner worked with them.
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Douthart is charged with theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received and theft by deception. He was arraigned before District Judge Daniel Baranoski on $15,000 unsecured bail.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
