Ouch, That Burns! Texas Woman Ordered to Pay $88,000 to Fire Department

Brace yourselves, folks, because justice has been served... sort of. In a stunning turn of events yesterday, Brittany Danielle Kerbo, the former Assistant Chief of the Fritch Volunteer Fire Department, has pleaded guilty to "misapplication of fiduciary property."

In other words, she unlawfully swiped a whopping $88,000 from the Frich Volunteer Fire Department.

Now, you would think that stealing nearly 90 grand from an organization dedicated to saving lives would land you in the slammer for a significant stretch. But the punishment handed down to Kerbo is about as intimidating as a damp matchstick.

After an "extensive" investigation by the renowned Texas Rangers, Kerbo and her firefighter husband, Rodney, were shown the door in May 2020. Fast-forward to today, and we have the ultimate conclusion to this case.

Kerbo has been sentenced to ten years in prison and eight years of community supervision, but there's an upside to her sentencing. Turns out, her prison sentence has been suspended, as long as she follows the strict rules of her community supervision. So, in essence, she only has to behave herself for the next eight years.

Kerbo also has been ordered to pay a staggering $88,697 in restitution.  She was ordered to pay an initial $7,000 and after that would be put on a payment plan of $851.01.

As if that weren't enough, Kerbo has been assigned 160 hours of community service.

I'm a bit curious as to how the Fritch Volunteer Fire Association feels about all this and the greater Fritch community feels about this sentencing. I'm no legal expert, but this seems like a pretty easy let-off, from a pretty slimy crime against a small community. But I guess it turns out that stealing from a fire department won't burn you as badly as you'd expect.