Some members of the Richland Township Fire Department told 6 News they feel betrayed after police charged a former assistant chief with stealing money from them.

"To the best of my knowledge, no one here has made contact with him and he hasn't contacted any of us," said Wes Meyers, president of the Richland Fire Department.

Jason Ober was formally charged on Wednesday by Richland Township police after they said a forensic audit showed he stole more than $12,000 from the fire department. Police said he was not only a former assistant chief, he served as their business manager.

"We were hoping it would never happen to us but unfortunately it does happen to organizations around here," said Meyers.
He said Ober sold the department a truck in 2007 and for that he was written a check from the general fund. But then they said he wrote another, similar check from their relief assistance fund. Meyers said the discrepancies were never discovered because both funds were always audited seperately. 

"Once we started putting all of the books together and an auditor did a forensic audit, that's when they came up with it," he said.

Ober cut ties with the department about two years ago, but Meyers said they still feel betrayed by one of their own. That's why they've already put checks in place to ensure it never happens again.

"Even though our business manager approves our bills and submits them for payment, it's signed off by two of our board of directors on every charge," said Meyers. "That way we know there's at least three people that's going to see the bills that go through."

Meyers said he's already met with the department to discuss what happened and let them know the actions of one man won't bring them down.

"We're going to continue to do that," said Meyers. "We'll stay strong as a department and we'll move forward and get through it."

The audit began about five months ago and are still ongoing. Police said it could take several more months before it's completed. They also said Ober may be facing more charges in the future.