TYRONE — Officials plan to file charges after a recently released compliance audit by the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General supported allegations that the Tyrone Volunteer Firemen’s Relief Association’s former treasurer misappropriated funds totaling $8,200 between 2018 and 2022.

According to the audit, six checks were written by the former treasurer to himself, totaling $2,700; three checks had a journal entry written to other individuals but the cleared checks were written to and endorsed by the former treasurer, totaling $1,500; and five checks were written to vendors but endorsed by the former treasurer with “suspicious” invoices, totalling $4,000.

The audit report, which spanned the period from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 31, 2022, states the department of the auditor general contacted three of the four vendors that made up the five purchases and each vendor confirmed the invoices were not authentic. Each of the associated checks were written to, signed by and endorsed by the former treasurer, the audit states.

According to the audit, the relief association was unable to provide sufficient and reliable documentation for the department of the auditor general to conclude on whether the association was compliant with laws and regulations.

Relief association officials indicated they were only able to provide what was available and bank records retained by the bank for the bank’s seven year retention period. Additionally, officials stated the former treasurer had “unfettered control,” which provided him with the opportunity to misappropriate funds and manipulate or destroy documentation, the audit states.

In an email, the relief association’s president, Joe Gault, said the association plans to file charges against its former treasurer and is “trying to get back as much of the funds as possible.”

“The association has also made adjustments to operations so this does not happen again,” Gault said.

Officials declined to identify the accused treasurer.

Borough manager Ardean Latchford said borough officials are aware of the audit and have asked association members to provide a yearly report of their financials. The borough gives the association $4,000 a month to purchase supplies and hold training sessions, he said.

“We want to dig a little further to make sure there’s no misappropriations on the funding we provided,” Latchford said, noting the borough won’t withhold any future funding to the association “unless we would find something criminal in nature.”

Latchford said borough officials met with chiefs from the association’s affiliated fire service organizations — Blazing Arrow Hook & Ladder Fire Co., Neptune Fire Co. and the Tyrone Fire Police — a couple weeks ago to get a handle on the situation.

“From what I understand, our solicitor said whatever’s going on between the relief association and our fire departments really doesn’t have a whole lot to do with the borough,” Latchford said.

The audit lists several findings against the relief association, including unauthorized expenditures due to the potential misappropriation of funds, noncompliance with prior audit recommendations, undocumented expenditures, failure to adhere to the association’s own bylaws, an inadequate record of meeting minutes, an inadequate financial record-keeping system, failure to disclose related party transactions, an inappropriate payment of Pennsylvania sales tax and an untimely deposit of state aid.

In addition to the potential fraudulent transactions uncovered in the audit, the department of the auditor general found $3,843 in unauthorized expenditures and $8,096 in undocumented expenditures.

According to the audit, relief association officials indicated they were unaware of the unauthorized expenditures and that failure to maintain adequate supporting documentation for relief association expenditures can lead to an increased risk of errors and funds being misappropriated.

Association officials acknowledged the former treasurer did not maintain the required documentation. The new treasurer inherited an unorganized financial record keeping system and his lack of experience resulted in inadequate documentation, according to the report.

The audit states that the association did not adhere to numerous provisions in its bylaws from 2018-22, including a failure to conduct meetings or maintain detailed minutes of meetings, failure to have an audit committee and a failure to maintain a required minimum balance of $50,000 in cash and investments.

The audit also states the relief association did not deposit the 2022 state aid allocation it received from Birmingham Borough, in the amount of $374, until June 15, 2023. Association officials said the funds were initially put into the wrong account, according to the report.

April Hutcheson, communications director for the department of the auditor general, said volunteer fire relief organizations successfully go through the auditing process with few findings in most cases.

“There are cases where those findings may need further investigation from law enforcement, as in this case,” Hutcheson said in an email. “When that happens, we cooperate fully with law enforcement.”