The Colorado Sun: In December 2012, the board of the Inter-Canyon Fire Protection District, in Jefferson County, was astonished to hear it had run out of money to fight fires.

There was no money, either, to continue its job as the first medical responder to crashes on U.S. 285 in the Denver foothills. The district was broke.

Eventually, the board learned it had been oblivious for three years while the volunteer fire chief, Dave MacBean, embezzled $643,000 — in a district with a $900,000 annual budget. MacBean was later convicted of theft and embezzlement and sentenced to eight years in prison.

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