A suspended Wolcott volunteer firefighter has been arrested, accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from the cadet program for youths interested in becoming volunteer firefighters.
Jason Kordys, a 33-year-old plumber from Waterbury, turned himself in at the Wolcott Police Department on Wednesday after learning there was a warrant charging him with first-degree larceny.
Kordys, who was a Wolcott volunteer fireman, had been in charge of the Wolcott Volunteer Fire Department Engine 4, which police said is a cadet program for local children who plan to become firefighters when they turn 18, according to police.
In 2000, Kordys started assisting with the cadet program and he was promoted to lead adviser in 2007.
One of his roles was to maintain funds for programs, which come from fundraisers, along with an $8,100 allocation from the Town of Wolcott Fire Department Budget, according to police.
After discovering unusual activity on the Company 4 bank account, including Amazon purchases, as well as for food purchases, plumbing supplies, tools at Home Depot, among others, Fire Chief Kyle Dunn froze the account and contacted Kordys for an explanation about the purchases, police said.
On two occasions, Kordys arranged to meet with the fire chief, but never showed up for the meetings. First, he said he was sick, then he said his wife wasn't home and he had to watch their child, according to court records.
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So Dunn contacted the Wolcott Police Department and authorities conducted a forensic analysis of the funds, which showed Kordys made 180 fraudulent transactions amounting to $2,948.29, according to police.
When Dunn asked Kordys whether he knew money was missing, Kordys responded that he did and was afraid to say something, then added that he used bad judgment and was poor at paperwork, according to court records.
"I know. I was afraid to tell you about it," Kordys said when asked about the possible misuse of funds, the court paperwork states.
When asked why he would do this, Kordys responded, "It was a bad decision," according to the affidavit.
In December, the chief asked Kordys to step down as lead adviser of the cadet program because he was not showing up enough, didn’t attend fire department meetings and failed to install a system to keep track of all treasury debits and credits for a yearly audit report, according to records.
He stepped down as of Jan. 1. Then, Dunn later suspended Kordys from the fire department.
“Once we found out the problem, Kordys was immediately suspended and then terminated in March. We hope the incident does not deter residents of Wolcott from joining the Cadet Program because we have members who put a lot of time and effort into the program,” Dunn said in a statement.
Bond for Kordys was set at $25,000, then reduced to a promise to appear. He is due back in court on Oct. 24.
