Correction: The sentencing portion of this story has been corrected below.

WARDEN — Grant County Fire District 4 is instituting new policies for credit card use and use of its petty cash accounts. Fire district officials also have written new policies governing the purchase of equipment following the two audits by the Washington State Auditor’s Office, released Monday.  

Auditors found that the district didn’t follow procurement laws when they purchased a truck in 2022 and fire equipment in 2023. A separate investigation recommended additional controls after it was discovered that a former fire chief had misused district credit cards and taken money from the GCFD 4 petty cash account from 2022 to 2024. 

“We do know that, as for the truck purchase, that needed to go through the bid process. We did piggyback with (Royal Slope Fire) in that bid, but we need to always keep records,” district officials said in their response.  

The former chief, Kevin Whitaker, 35, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court Sept. 29 to one count of first-degree identity theft. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail, 30 of which were converted to 240 hours of community service, ordered to pay $70,000 in restitution, undergo an evaluation for gambling addiction and complete any recommended treatment. The WSAO auditors found Whitaker had written checks totaling about $33,370 to himself from petty cash. They also found about $2,500 in cash advances on the district’s credit card, and about $12,900 in questionable credit card purchases, according to the report. Originally, he was charged with three counts of forgery and one count of first-degree theft  

District officials said they agreed with the audit findings. 

“We have a new policy book that covers credit card purchases, a credit card log, as well as a petty cash policy stating the requirements for who can use it and for what. The district has put many new polices into place to secure the district’s funds and keep any fraudulent activities from happening again,” according to their audit response.  

The auditors said they identified cash advances on the district’s credit card, an unusual practice in GCFD 4, but that it was difficult to determine who was using it.  

“Although the fire chief normally held the credit card, it was shared among other staff when needed. Additionally, no one maintained usage logs, which impacted our ability to assign responsibility for the misappropriation,” the audit report said.  

There were also what the auditors called questionable purchases on the credit card, the report said. 

“Given there were no supporting receipts on file to support the business purposes of the expense, we are unable to determine whether the expenditures were for a legitimate business reason,” the report said.  

The auditors found the district had not adequately documented its purchase of a tanker truck in 2022, totaling about $323,900, and a truck modification kit in 2023, totaling about $375,700.

“Staff did not understand the state procurement requirements,” the audit report said. “We have made recommendations over procurement to management in the prior audits; however, district management has not prioritized developing a policy and procedures over procurement, which includes ensuring documentation is available to support actions taken.”