Pete Egedi, former Fillmore Fire Chief

Information from Mike Harris, Ventura Star

Pete Egedi (39) former Fillmore Fire Chief, will stand trial for one count of embezzlement and three counts of grand theft for allegedly stealing money from a city fire department stipend fund.

Egedi is accused of stealing more than $25,000, money spent on his wife, gambling debts, paying for a city employee’s abortion, and for a wide screen TV for his home. All four counts are felonies, and if convicted, Egedi could spend up to four years, eight months in state prison. He has pleaded not guilty and has been released on $10,000 bail.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Kevin Drescher is quoted “It’s the people’s position that the defendant had his own personal slush fund.” Detective Sgt. Cary Peterson, of the sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau, testified (according to the Star report) that former Fillmore Fire Chief, Pat Askren, revealed that Egedi “spent a lot on cars and boats and had a heavy gambling problem.” Defense attorney, Mark Pachowicz of Camarillo, has characterized Egedi as “a great guy who didn’t do anything wrong. ... He didn’t commit any of the offenses that he is charged with.”

Detective Sgt Peterson stated that Egedi stole the money from a Fire Department account he controlled at Santa Clara Valley Bank. This account also held federal emergency services money and proceeds from benefits.

It is reported that in April of 2008, former Fillmore Finance Director Barbara Smith, following a tip from Fillmore Disaster Coordinator Patrick Maynard, discovered 20 checks in the amount of $27,950 endorsed by Egedi or his wife. Egedi was entitled to $1,200 a year from this account. According to Smith’s testimony, Egedi overbilled the city $13,000 for work not done by his volunteer firemen. Peterson testified that Maynard told him that Egedi kept an emergency services reimbursement check for about $51,000 instead of turning it over to Barbara Smith. Maynard told Peterson that the fire department, under Egedi, was run “like a paramilitary operation where the chief wasn’t questioned.”

Peterson also testified, according to Maynard, that Egedi had issued a check from the stipend account for $800 to pay for a city employee’s abortion at Planned Parenthood in Sherman Oaks, and that he had been coerced by Egedi to drive the employee to the clinic.

Egedi had been on administrative leave since April 2008, and he was fired in October 2008. Egedi was Fillmore Fire Chief from 2005 to April 2008. He is scheduled for arraignment April 9.