NILAND — While the Niland Fire Department is not hiring anyone, it eventually will accept applications for firefighting positions, including one to replace an ex-fire captain convicted in an embezzlement case, John Almueti said Tuesday.
Almueti, who heads the Niland Fire District’s governing board, added that the applications wouldn’t be accepted until after the county completes a three-month review of what the district needs.
But the search for a fire chief and firefighting crew with emergency medical technician certification would also cover the position once held by Angel Guerra, who was sentenced Feb. 3 to three years’ probation and six months to a work furlough program under a plea agreement.
Guerra, 35, pleaded no contest in November to two felony counts of embezzlement and grand theft, said prosecuting attorney Jodi Miller. The remaining 15 other counts Guerra faced in the case involving a series of forged checks were dismissed.
Guerra, a native of Los Angeles who worked for the fire district for 12 years, was ordered to pay the Niland Fire Association $7,600 in restitution. Guerra had no prior criminal history.
Miller said the defendant agreed to pay an additional $1,200 upon discovery of more checks. Guerra has paid partial restitution.
Guerra contended he was being used as a scapegoat by the Niland Fire Association for “the unaccountability of other checks,” whose signature he was accused of forging, according to a report by the Imperial County Probation Department. But when association vice president Adrian Rodriguez confronted him about a $950 check that was cashed at the Sun Community Federal Credit Union in El Centro, Guerra admitted to forging Rodriguez’s signature but “was going to pay (the money) back,” the report read.
Guerra explained that he needed the money to pay his mother’s medical bills but an audit on the Niland Fire Association’s bank account showed that “Guerra had fraudulently forged and passed 14 additional checks from association,” according to the probation report.
One check was made to The Fair Store in Calipatria, where uniforms are sold, and another was to the El Centro Costco warehouse store, the Probation Department’s report read.
To cash a check from the association required two signatures, one from an association board member and another from then-Niland Fire Chief Mike Aleksick.
Members’ dues for the association are used for a scholarship fund and the local food bank, the report explained.
Dan Gautschi, the chief executive officer and founder of SunEco Energy, said Guerra works for his company as a crew manager. Gautschi paid Guerra’s bail shortly after his arrest last year, Gautschi said.
Saying he hires whoever he wants as long as “they’re legal,” Gautschi said he has known Guerra for the past three years.
“He does a good job. He’s honest,” Gautschi said of Guerra. “He’s never done anything to me.”
Staff Writer Silvio J. Panta can be reached at 760-337-3442 or spanta@ivpressonline.com
