Barrow County Fire Chief Arrested

What do you expect from someone getting a Barrow County
paycheck?


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Barrow County Fire Chief Donald Towne was arrested Friday in Cairo accused of stealing cable television from the county’s public utility.

Towne turned himself in to local police Friday morning and was charged with theft by taking. Towne’s wife, Tiffany Fowler, 29, of Cairo, was arrested as well and charged with five counts each of theft by taking and theft by computer.

Fowler was a billing employee at Community Network Services, a public cable and internet provider for Grady County.

Towne’s father-in-law, James Whigham, 68, of Cairo, was also arrested, along with Christine Tuning, 30, of Tallahassee, Fla., and Allan Womble, 29, of Cairo. Those four were charged with theft by taking. Tuning received an additional charge of providing false information.

Steve Turner, the assistant special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation office for the region that covers Grady County, said the city of Cairo discovered a shortfall of funds in CNS.

“I don’t want to say what the shortfall is,” Turner said. “An investigation into missing funds to the city of Cairo continues.”

The investigation may yield more arrests. Turner declined to discuss what funds Cairo is missing.

Towne and the other four people arrested are expected to be arraigned today.

Towne accepted his position as chief of the Barrow County Fire Department after deputy chief Kevin O’Brien of Newton County declined the position in May.

Towne is the third chief in the last 16 months. Chief Bob Post resigned in March 2009, and Chief Mark Melvin resigned that November. Battalion Chief John Skinner filled in as acting chief between Melvin’s departure and Towne’s first day on June 20.

Post resigned as Barrow County Fire Chief on March 27, 2009, after serving a 40-hour unpaid suspension for what Yearwood called at the time “insubordination.” The suspension arose from a dispute about overtime pay for firefighter training and employees driving county vehicles home off duty.