The former Lakewood fire chief who resigned in May after being suspended by the town board has been charged with embezzling close to $100,000 from the nonprofit organization that holds donations and fundraising proceeds for the fire department.
Christopher E. Thomson, 42, of Lakewood, has been charged with 10 counts of the unauthorized use of Lakewood Fire Department Association’s identifying information or documents, 10 counts of uttering a forgery, one count of theft in a business setting and one count of fraud against a financial institution.
The theft in a business setting charge carries a potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted. Each of the other 21 counts carries a maximum of six years and $10,000.
During a Nov. 21 hearing in Oconto County Circuit Court, Judge Jay Conley set bail at $10,000 cash and adjourned Thomson’s initial appearance until 10 a.m. Dec. 12.
According to the criminal complaint, Thomson was named treasurer of the Lakewood Fire Department Association (LFDA) in January 2020. The association is a separate entity from the department itself. Thomson became fire chief in 2022 upon the retirement of the former chief.
The Lakewood Town Board placed Thomson on unpaid administrative leave on May 13, and he resigned as chief shortly thereafter, the complaint said. Because LFDA bylaws dictate that only department members may serve on the association board, Thomson became ineligible to serve as treasurer but did not step down until Sept. 3.
Thomson provided “a litany of excuses” for not returning the association’s checkbook and other financial records, according to the complaint. The LFDA’s current president gave Thomson an ultimatum Sept. 20 either to return the records or risk law enforcement involvement.
Once the president had the records, “he quickly noticed that all the receipts were missing from the binder and the check sequence was off.” In talking with the Laona State Bank, he was given copies of 11 checks totaling $6,606.80 that had been made out to and cashed by Thomson or his wife, the complaint said.
Oconto County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Dryja, who conducted the initial investigation, then received a text from Thomson saying, “well I just wanted to say goodbye my friend I f—ed up and I need to leave. Thanks for always standing by me.” The complaint states that Dryja spoke with Thomson a short time later to get assurance he was camping with his family and was not going to harm himself.
The next morning, Sept. 21, Thomson called Dryja and admitted he took “about $20,000” from LFDA and used the money to pay bills and other expenses. “He went on to say that he needed help but was too ashamed to ask for it,” the complaint said.
Later that day town officials alerted Dryja that $47,700.45 appeared to be missing from two LFDA certificates of deposit that Thomson had controlled, and also that between $24,000 and $25,000 in cash from a recent corn roast fundraiser had been given to Thomson in his role as treasurer but apparently never deposited, according to the complaint.
At that point, the case was assigned to sheriff’s investigator James Plotkin, who found, the complaint said:
• 12 payments totaling $5,444.16 from the LFDA account to Thomson’s personal cellphone company.
• eight car payments from the LFDA account on Thomson’s personal loan.
• 10 LFDA checks totaling $7,752.64 made out to Thomson that required dual authorization with forged endorsement signatures. “Thomson admitted to writing himself checks in an amount totaling, $20,000, due to financial hardship, when confront about such by association board members,” according to the complaint.
The association vice president reported that Thomson apparently falsified entries into the LFDA’s annual financial reports for 2021 through 2023. It was estimated from those reports that Thomson took about $18,875 without consent or authorization in 2021, $25,557 in 2022, and $39,267 in 2023.
Thomson had reported in the 2023 report that the department’s major expenses were new radios for $8,650 and turnout gear for $13,650, but those invoices actually were never paid and had to be covered by the town board, the complaint said.
Thomson was arrested Nov. 15 and has been in custody at the Oconto County Jail since then.
wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com
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