A former Autryville fire chief has been indicted on more than a dozen felony counts stemming from allegations that he misappropriated in excess of $60,000 of the department’s money over a period of six years. The District Attorney’s Office announced the indictment in a press release Friday.
Earlier this month, the Sampson County Grand Jury returned true bills of indictment against Andrew Paul Hawkins, former fire department chief of the Autryville Volunteer Fire Department. The grand jury returned indictments for 12 counts of felonious larceny by employee and one count of felonious obtaining property by false pretenses, according to District Attorney Ernie Lee.
The offenses were allegedly committed from June 2016 to June 2022, Lee noted.
“The larceny by employee offenses deal with alleged misappropriation of moneys of the Autryville Volunteer Fire Department for personal use. The false pretense is the alleged fraudulent reporting of hours worked with the Autryville Volunteer Department,” Lee stated. “The total amount of moneys misappropriated for the alleged larceny by employee and obtaining property by false pretenses offenses exceeds $64,000.”
According to Lee, on Aug. 30, 2022, he joined with Sampson County Sheriff Jimmy Thornton in requesting an investigation of the matter by the NC State Bureau of Investigation.
“After a lengthy investigation and consultations and meetings of the District Attorney and the SBI, the 13 felony counts were submitted to the Sampson County Grand Jury on Dec. 4,” Lee stated. “The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”