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Ryan Aucoin

Fire department official arrested on misappropriation charge

He says he accidentally made withdrawal of $800 from wrong account in 2015

The Patterson Volunteer Fire Department president was arrested Friday and accused of misappropriating $800 from the fire department’s checking account in 2015.

The fire department president, Ryan Aucoin , says the incident occurred when he accidentally withdrew funds from the department’s account while intending to use his personal credit card.

Aucoin , 26, of Main Street in Patterson, was arrested at 9:30 a.m. Friday on a charge of misappropriation of public funds. Aucoin is community development and affairs director for the city of Patterson.

Aucoin also serves as president of the Patterson Volunteer Fire Department, and the alleged misappropriation of funds took place within his capacity as fire department president.

Police Chief Patrick LaSalle said the arrest was made after an investigation “brought about by a direct letter” from 16th Judicial District Attorney Bo Duhe instructing LaSalle to investigate the matter. Duhe confirmed Monday afternoon that he did send the letter to LaSalle instructing him to investigate the matter based on a finding in the city's annual audit.

Aucoin told The Daily Review Monday that incident took place in 2015 and that the transactions took place after he confused a “personal credit card that’s very similar looking to the Patterson card for the fire department,” he said.

“The minute it was brought to my attention, I left work. I went on my lunch break that day and went and got the money, and I returned the funds,” Aucoin said.

Aucoin called the incident “a huge accident,” and said he never had any intent to misappropriate any funds.

Fire Chief Scott Domingue said Aucoin was department president in October 2015 when Domingue was elected treasurer of the department.

Domingue noticed in December 2016 that there were some withdrawals from Aucoin’s fire department debit card for the department’s checking account, he said.

Domingue said he brought the matter to the attention of Aucoin, who told Domingue that he made a withdrawal from the department’s checking account by error at Patterson State Bank, he said. Domingue also told Mayor Rodney Grogan what happened.

Aucoin thought he was using his personal credit card, which had the same PIN number as his fire department debit card, Domingue said.

The story made sense to Domingue, he said. The same day that Domingue notified Aucoin of the withdrawals, Aucoin brought Domingue a check for $800, and the check was deposited into the fire department’s account, Domingue said.

In January 2016, the fire department membership voted unanimously to have Aucoin resign as president and relinquish his debit card and become part of the general membership, Domingue said.

“We took care of it as a membership at the fire department, which we were told to do,” Domingue said.

Domingue took over as president of the fire department after Aucoin stepped down until Domingue became fire chief in August 2016.

In August 2016, the fire department membership unanimously elected Aucoin to serve as fire department president again, Domingue said.

Domingue said the fire department membership continues to stand behind Aucoin.

About two weeks ago, Domingue was contacted by the police department to investigate the alleged transactions, he said. Domingue told investigators what had happened and brought documentation, he said.

In the city’s annual audit report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016, officials discovered an officer of the volunteer fire department made unauthorized cash withdrawals in January 2016 totaling $800 from a volunteer fire department bank account that was determined not to be for a valid governmental or organizational purpose.

The officer wasn’t named in the report.

The individual stepped down as an officer of the volunteer fire department in January 2016 and from that point had no access to the volunteer fire department’s bank accounts, the report stated.

In August 2016, the membership of the volunteer fire department re-appointed the individual to an officer position. At all times, the individual remained a full-time employee of the city, the audit said.

Aucoin was booked into jail Friday and later released on $1,500 bail.

ST. MARY NOW

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