Pete Egedi

All criminal charges pending against former Fillmore Fire Chief, Pete Egedi, 41, were dismissed by the Ventura County District Attorney, Tuesday. In October, 2008, Egedi was terminated as Chief, and later that year charged with four felony counts of embezzlement.

In a brief telephone interview with Mark Pachowicz, attorney for Egedi, Pachowicz expressed disappointment with the tenor of some news reports regarding the dismissal. The District Attorney’s office determined Fillmore’s sloppy financial record-keeping made it impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Egedi had embezzled $27,950 from a city Fire Department stipend account. He characterized the City’s financial records for the account as “a mess”. In his motion to dismiss the case, Pachowicz said, “The City of Fillmore did not have any written rules and guidelines concerning the operation of this checking account.” He also emphasized that the case turned on the fact that the 20 checks in question, payable to Egedi and his wife, were reimbursements for equipment purchased for the Fire Department, not embezzled funds. He also said that Egedi’s use of the Department stipend funds was completely consistent with historical use by prior department heads, that is there were no guidelines or rules regarding the fund’s use.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Kevin Drescher reported that his office reviewed thousands of pages of evidence during discovery and interviewed many witnesses. It was determined that the Fillmore Volunteer Fire Department’s stipend checking account was not monitored. In Drescher’s opinion, this made it impossible to overcome Egedi’s defense of reasonable reimbursement, and therefore the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt could not be met despite the fact that a prima facie case of embezzlement existed.

A civil action against the City of Fillmore was filed Tuesday, May 17, 2011. The discovery period for this action will begin June 6. At that time multiple causes of action are expected to be developed following depositions, to include alleged Brown Act violations and alleged violations of Egedi’s due process rights as he was not permitted to defend himself before the Fillmore City Council. Egedi’s lawsuit will seek compensation for wrongful termination, reinstatement to his position as fire chief, and to recover back pay.

Among those Pachowicz says he will depose are former Finance Director Barbara Smith and City Attorney Ted Schneider.

Schneider would not respond to the Gazette’s questions beyond his remarks to the Ventura Star. The Star reports him as saying, “I can’t really comment on the DA’s decision”... “The city was never consulted with respect to the DA’s decision to prosecute or his decision to dismiss the charges. That was completely their decision. But the DA’s decision does not mean that he’s (Egedi) vindicated from the actions for which he’s been accused.” Schneider is also reported (by the Star) to have stated that the city “is against reinstating Egedi to his old job as fire chief and is fighting his wrongful termination lawsuit in court.”

The Egedi case was based upon an investigation by Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Cary Peterson, head of the Financial Crimes Unit who concluded Egedi misappropriated more than $27,000 from the stipend account.

Now that criminal charges have been dismissed and civil litigation has begun, the burden of proof is substantially reduced to a preponderance of evidence, rather than beyond a reasonable doubt.