CLEARFIELD – During Centralized Court on Wednesday at the Clearfield County Jail, the preliminary hearings were continued until 10:15 a.m. Dec. 9 for two former fire company officers accused of stealing more than $4,000.
Scott Norman McCracken, 38, and Jennifer Irene McCracken, 36, both of Grampian, have been charged with 13 counts each of theft by unlawful taking and theft by failure to make the required disposition of funds and one count of conspiracy/theft by unlawful taking.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, state police were contacted by a trustee of the Grampian-Penn-Bloom Fire Company. The trustee told state police Scott McCracken was the fire company’s president and treasurer of the fire police, and his wife, Jennifer McCracken, was the secretary for both the fire company and fire police.
While holding their officer positions within the fire company, the trustee told state police that Scott and Jennifer McCracken were in charge of the checkbooks. The trustee noted to state police that the couple wasn’t any longer in charge at the Grampian-Penn-Bloom Fire Company.
The trustee told state police a certified public accountant had completed a financial examination of the fire company’s records. The results, the trustee said, identified 13 different checks written with payees allegedly listed as Jennifer McCracken on eight and Scott McCracken on four; a family member of Scott McCracken was allegedly listed as payee on one check.
The trustee told state police that there wouldn’t have been any reason for the fire company to write checks personally to Scott and Jennifer McCracken. The total for the 13 checks allegedly written out to the defendants was $4,350, according to the affidavit.
State police obtained a search warrant for the bank accounts of Scott and Jennifer McCracken. The results allegedly showed that the defendants appeared to be in financial distress with many overdraft fees. The 13 dispositions were provided by the fire company trustees and verified with the search warrant.