A decision to determine if the former fire chief of High Springs (Fla) will face criminal charges will be made in the next week or two, said Spencer Mann, spokesperson for the State Attorney’s Office.
After more than a year of investigating and collecting evidence, the State Attorney’s Office is almost ready to announce if it will pursue criminal charges for incidents that resulted in longtime High Springs Fire Chief Terry Jewell resigning.
Jewell first came under scrutiny after the state Fire Marshall’s Office accused the High Springs fire department of not following state codes in a “practice burn” in which a dilapidated home was burnt down as practice for firefighters.
But when the city investigated those allegations, new ones surfaced.
The new allegations, uncovered through multiple interviews with those closely connected to the fire department, included: misuse of public funds, conflict of interest, unauthorized use of city equipment, safety violations that may have led to the injury of a firefighter, fraudulent record keeping and abuse of supervisory authority.
Mann said the only thing holding up the announcement of whether the state will pursue charges against Jewell is that other cases are taking precedent right now.
“There are other irons in the fire right now,” he said.
