Chester County Investigation finds $172,000 in Richburg fire checks went into undisclosed nonprofit account

Investigators tell Chester County Council that more than $172,000 in fire district checks went into a nonprofit bank account county officials did not know existed

Outside investigators told Chester County Council on Monday, Sept. 21, that the Richburg Fire Protection District bought a $74,000 pickup truck before council approved the money for it. They also said checks made out to the fire district were routinely deposited into a nonprofit bank account the county did not know about.

Attorney Tommy Morgan of the Smith Robinson law firm in Camden presented the findings with forensic accountant Holly Carr, CPA, of BDO USA. Council hired the team to examine complaints about the Richburg Fire District’s finances and management. The presentation ran more than an hour and covered the truck purchase, commingled funds, state surplus vehicles, federal and state grant applications and volunteer incentive programs.

The findings matter to taxpayers across the county, not just in Richburg. Chester County Treasurer Ed Darby said the county has given the district $2.9 million over the last four years. He said that money comes from county taxpayers, not just district taxpayers. Revenue that went into the undisclosed account made the district look like it had less money than it did, which raised the amount taxpayers had to cover, Darby said.

Council Chairman Pete Wilson opened the meeting by saying the criminal investigation and the indictments that came out of it “are not, have never been the responsibility of this council.” He asked council to focus on what happened and on putting safeguards in place.

How the investigation began

The review started in September 2025. Two whistleblowers sent written complaints to county administration about then-Fire Chief Stewart T. Melton, Assistant Chief Michael Ehrmanntraut and Lt. Zachary Gibson. The complaints said the department inflated volunteer rosters to qualify for grants, misused volunteer incentive and tax credit programs, falsified incident reports and EMS billing, and kept accounts the county did not know about.

Morgan said the team did 15 interviews. They spoke with the whistleblowers, current and former Richburg employees and volunteers, fire chiefs from neighboring departments, and county staff. Former Councilman John Agee, Melton and Stephanie Broom, who is Agee’s daughter and the district’s former accountant, declined to be interviewed.

Investigators collected about 10 bankers’ boxes of records from the Richburg station on North Main Street. The boxes held more than 1,700 files totaling over 11,000 pages. Forensic images of two laptops from the department produced another 57,000 files and emails. Morgan said the team met twice with the State Law Enforcement Division and the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and gave SLED access to its materials.

A truck bought before the money existed

Carr walked council through a timeline of the Unit 801 replacement, a 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD.

The Richburg Fire District board approved replacing the truck in mid-2024. In October 2024 the district signed a purchase contract with Burns Chevrolet for about $74,000. In December, the district wrote a $19,000 check from its operating account to Founders Federal Credit Union, with “801 Truck Loan” on the memo line. Melton wrote a $50,000 check from Richburg Community Firemen Inc., the nonprofit volunteer group. Carr said those funds secured a personal loan of about $74,000 taken out by David McCain. The loan proceeds then went through the nonprofit to pay Burns Chevrolet.

Council approved a $238,481 bond in February 2025 that included money for the truck. Carr said the truck had already been bought by then and council did not know about the financing arrangement. In March 2025 the county sent about $74,000 to the district. The district first recorded that money as payroll, then used it to pay off McCain’s loan.

In September 2025, after SLED opened its investigation, the district’s QuickBooks records for the truck transactions were changed. The payroll entries were reclassified as a truck loan and an equipment purchase. Carr said the system’s audit log shows the original entries were made under Agee’s login and the changes under Broom’s. Across 2023 through 2025, Agee and Broom made or changed about 93% of all transactions in the district’s accounting system.

“We did not expect a county council member to be making entries into a QuickBooks system for an entity,” Carr said. She said the county should look at that as a segregation of duties problem.

The county’s external auditor, Sheheen, Hancock & Godwin, cited the truck purchase as a significant deficiency in its report for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025. That report is public.

The old Unit 801, a 2011 Duramax titled to and insured by Chester County, was sold to the Buffalo Fire District for $15,000 in June 2025. Carr said the check went into the nonprofit’s account, not the fire district’s.

The First Citizens account

The truck money led investigators to a Richburg Community Firemen Inc. account at First Citizens Bank. Carr called it “previously unknown.” From 2021 through 2025, the account took in $291,954. Of that, $172,403 (about 59%) came from checks made out to the Richburg Fire Department or Fire District, not to the nonprofit. According to the check memos and who wrote them, the money included South Carolina Forestry Commission grant money, state Department of Labor funds and insurance payments likely tied to EMS calls.

Of the 170 checks deposited, Agee endorsed 147. Carr said he endorsed 80 while he was Richburg fire chief and 67 while he was on Chester County Council.

Morgan said two former presidents of the nonprofit told investigators they did not know the account existed. The group’s meeting minutes never mention it.

Darby said that when council dissolved the fire district board last September, district staff told his office about five bank accounts. Over the next few weeks the number grew to 10. He said none of the accounts had been reconciled. He also said overtime was tracked on a desk calendar, some employees had money taken from their paychecks that was never sent where it should have gone, and a district credit card was tied to Melton’s personal Social Security number.

“This account was not disclosed to our auditor. It was not disclosed to the county,” Darby said. “We had to find it through this process.”

Investigators also found confusion over the group’s nonprofit status. Richburg Community Firemen Inc. was incorporated in 2001 by Agee, McCain and Melton. It is in good standing with the South Carolina Secretary of State but does not show up in the state’s charity search or the IRS database of tax-exempt organizations. A different group, Richburg Community Firefighters, formed in 2023 and is listed with the IRS as a 501(c)(3).

Surplus vehicles titled to Agee

The South Carolina State Surplus Property Office sells used public property to government agencies and qualified nonprofits before the general public can buy it. Carr said investigators found 27 purchases listed under the Richburg Fire Department between December 2020 and March 2025. They traced the three largest to the First Citizens account.

Two of the three were Chevrolet Caprice sedans. The nonprofit paid $20,000 for a 2015 Caprice in July 2022. Agee then paid the nonprofit back, and the car was titled in his name. Melton signed a state form certifying the car would be used as an administrative vehicle for the fire department for at least a year. In April 2024, while Agee was on council, the nonprofit bought a 2016 Caprice for $4,975. Agee paid the nonprofit back the next month. The state bill of sale shows Agee picked up the car. Carr said neither car was ever titled to the fire district or the county.

Hurricane Helene claims and grants

Morgan said Richburg’s FEMA reimbursement request for Hurricane Helene recovery was far larger than any other department’s in the county. Richburg claimed about $48,000 in labor and equipment. Lando, the next highest, claimed about $10,600. Emergency call records show Richburg ran about 40 calls during those days and Lando ran 37.

Morgan said firefighters told investigators the forms listed them working on days they were out of state, running chain saws for hours they never ran, and driving apparatus they could not drive. One volunteer was listed as operating a fire truck when he was 17. Melton signed and certified both forms. Morgan said the county has self-reported the issue to FEMA.

Investigators also found several volunteer rosters with different dates. Only one showed the 80% volunteer ratio required for a South Carolina Forestry Commission Volunteer Fire Assistance grant, which the county matches dollar for dollar up to $5,000. In February 2026, State Fire Marshal Jonathan Jones told county Emergency Services Director Kell Benson in an email that it “would not be prudent” to give Richburg more VSAFE equipment grant money while SLED’s investigation was open.

Two firefighters told investigators the signatures on their county Pincentive stipend forms were not theirs, Morgan said. He said records also show paid firefighters were certified for the state’s $6,000 Volunteer Incentive Program tax deduction, which is only for volunteers. He said investigators do not know whether anyone claimed it.

What happens next

Morgan’s recommendations included bringing Richburg’s operations under county control, which the county’s external auditor has also recommended. He also recommended requiring county email for all county business so the county can answer public records requests, and centralizing grant review and contract approval with the county.

Ms. Workman said the county has moved Richburg employees onto its central payroll and benefits system and has taken over the Richburg Fire and Rescue ambulance at the request of the interim chief. The county has also ended duplicate contracts, including one with AMR, and is reviewing its boards and commissions.

The County’s external auditor told residents the county had to hire an outside firm because SLED does not have the staff for a forensic review of this size.

“Unfortunately, you truly have a problem,” he said.

Morgan said his team will send its full analysis to SLED and the Attorney General’s Office. He said decisions about criminal charges are outside the scope of the county’s review.