CASPER - The former Bar Nunn fire chief was sentenced Wednesday in Natrona County District Court to a suspended prison term as part of a plea deal for stealing money from the 2024 Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Fill the Boot Drive.
District Court Judge Catherine Wilking adhered tothe plea agreement between the Natrona County District Attorney’s office and Robert William Hoover, 57. She sentenced Hoover to three-to-five years in prison, which she suspended, and placed him on three years of supervised probation.
Hoover was ordered to pay a $500 fine on a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct and $10,812.03 in restitution.
A second theft charge related to fraudulent purchases using Bar Nunn Fire Department funds, as well as charges of credit card fraud and interference with a peace officer charge were dropped as part of the plea deal.
Defense attorney Keith Nachbar told the court that he had a check from Hoover that he would present to the court following his sentencing for the $10,812.03, which covered the $2,660 theft of MDA funds, $2,652.03 in funds used from fire department accounts and $5,500 Hoover received for selling a Polaris RZR side-by-side to the department — even though he was told it was not needed.
“This conduct on the part of Mr. Hoover is very uncharacteristic of him,” Nachbar told the judge prior to sentencing.
He presented exhibits that showed all of the training that Hoover had completed over his years at the fire department and talked about the public service he had performed as a former member of the Bar Nunn Town Council.
Nachbar said his client and wife also volunteered to take on the responsibility of raising five grandchildren. He told the court that Hoover made his “terribly bad decision” to steal the funds because he had just had an aortic valve replacement and was “under financial stress.”
“He was worried about his ability to provide,” Nachbar said.
‘I Apologize’
Hoover told the judge that he had spent the “vast majority of my life serving the community.”
“What I did was wrong,” he said. “I apologize.”
In asking for the judge to implement the plea agreement and suspended prison term, Natrona County Assistant District Attorney Patrick LeBrun said the facts in the case were “not good.” But he argued that the plea agreement was appropriate due to Hoover’s history and the fact that he agreed to provide full restitution to the MDA and the fire department.
“Mr. Hoover was in a position of trust, and he took advantage of that,” he said. “He has suffered a certain amount of public disgrace.”
With members of the Bar Nunn Fire Department present in the courtroom, LeBrun said it was his understanding that the department will fulfill its intent during the 2024 MDA Fill the Boot Drive when Hoover’s restitution is paid.
“As soon as they receive that money, they will finish what they wanted to do and deliver the money to the MDA,” he said.
Prior to sentencing, Wilking told Hoover and the attorneys that the MDA Fill the Boot Drive is “one of my favorite things to see in my community.”
She called the fundraiser one of the more “wholesome” events as firefighters stand at intersections on often hot Labor Day Weekend afternoons holding out their boots to collect money for the nonprofit organization. The judge said the case was disturbing.
“I know it was shocking, particularly in the firefighting community,” she said.
‘Law-Abiding Life’
In giving Hoover his suspended sentence and probation term, she acknowledged letters of support submitted on his behalf and listed several conditions of his probation that included full-time employment, abstention from alcohol, being subject to random drug and alcohol testing, and undergoing all evaluations.
“You need to live a law-abiding life,” she said.
Circumstances surrounding the case came to light when the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office were alerted to concerns about the 2024 Fill the Boot fundraiser between Aug. 30 and Sept. 11, 2024, by a Wyoming Highway Patrol employee who served on the fire department.
Bar Nunn firefighters told NCSO Cpl. Kenneth Jividen that Hoover initially said the department raised $7,327 from the drive but only sent a check for $4,667 to MDA.
Hoover had established a bank account for the fire department separate from the city and handled the department’s finances alone or with his daughter and son-in-law.
Following the fundraiser, Hoover told the investigator there was no formal process for counting the donated money, and he denied telling other firefighters that $7,327 had been raised for MDA at a fire department meeting.
He said he just took all the collected money to the bank to be counted.
However, bank video showed him arriving with bills neatly stacked and with rubber bands around them and no coins, indicating the deposit was different from the sum collected, the affidavit says.
Interviews with Hoover’s daughter and son-in-law revealed to authorities that after the boot fundraiser, the donations were taken to the fire department to be counted, and they helped Hoover count it, Jividen wrote.
Hoover's daughter would later tell investigators that her dad asked her to lie about going to the fire department, and that the money was actually counted at his house.
Damaged Side-By-Side
Hoover also sold a Polaris RZR 800 side-by-side to the department for $5,500 even though a captain in the department told him it was not needed and did not agree with the purchase.
A Casper firm’s later estimate of the value of the machine, which had some damage, was put at $3,500 to $4,000.
An investigation into the fire department’s bank account with three members of the department identified 43 expenditures that were “suspicious” totaling $20,317.15.
It also identified 13 “fraudulent” transactions that included restaurant purchases, groceries at Walmart, medications, cleaning products, a vacuum, and a purchase of the feminine hygiene product Vagisil, the affidavit states.
The investigation into Hoover led to his firing from both his town maintenance job and his role as fire chief.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
