A statement read by St. Clair Fire Protection District board
of directors treasurer Dave Berkel has linked former Fire Chief Eric Hinson to
the ongoing investigation into the local department's financial irregularities.
Berkel read the statement making the connection during a
fire board meeting Tuesday night.
“We received a check from VFIS/Glatfelter Claim Service for
$100,000, and it has been deposited in our account,” Berkel said in reading the
statement at St. Clair Fire House 1 on North Street. “This check is due to an
ongoing investigation concerning Eric R. Hinson about his duties with the St.
Clair Fire Protection District as board treasurer.”
Volunteer Firemen's Insurance Services Inc. is the St. Clair
department's insurance carrier. Glatfelter is the claims firm the insurance
company uses.
Before becoming St. Clair fire chief for a short time last
year, Hinson was the board of director's treasurer from April 1997 to January
2011. Before he resigned as chief about a year ago, he had served with the St.
Clair Fire Protection District for about 25 years.
Berkel replaced Hinson as the board's treasurer when Hinson
was named chief in January 2011. The other two board members are President
Kirby Banderman and Secretary Danny Gossett.
On Sept. 28, 2011, during the same St. Clair Fire Protection
District board of directors meeting in which Hinson submitted his resignation
as chief, public minutes stated that the three-member board that night
unanimously voted to "engage the services" of BKD Certified Public
Accountants & Advisors "to investigate the financials for the St.
Clair Fire Protection District as necessary."
The vote came after the board went into executive session to
"discuss legal matters," the minutes stated.
On Tuesday during its meeting, the board said the $100,000
was given by the insurance company to the fire district because that is the
amount of money the department was insured for in this specific incident. At
the time, the district had a $100,000 insurance policy on each board member as
well as the district's office manager.
Fire board members said they could not release any other
information on Hinson relating to the case.
Earlier this month, Hinson quit his job as fire chief in
Ladue. Hinson was 41 years old when he became St. Clair's fire district leader
at the beginning of last year.
About 30 individuals attended Tuesday's meeting, most of
them St. Clair firefighters.
Background
Later during the same Sept. 28, 2011, fire board meeting,
the directors again voted to go into executive session "to discuss
personnel matters." When the meeting returned to open session, Berkel read
Hinson's letter of resignation, which unanimously was accepted by the board.
In January of this year, St. Clair Police Chief Bill Hammack
and Berkel both confirmed the investigation to The Missourian, but would provide
little additional information, including the names of any individuals
potentially involved. They did say the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation were involved.
"We are going through and looking into irregularities
in financials of the fire district," Berkel said in January. "These
occurred from 2011 and before. We're going through some questionable
transactions."
Jan Diltz, public affairs officer with the U.S. District
Attorney's Office in St. Louis, has provided no information on the case. In
addition, officials with the IRS office in Chesterfield have declined to
comment.
