A former fire department lieutenant who was arrested for stealing gas from District No. 1 and ordered to pay nearly $7,000 in restitution is one of three contenders for the open Prudential Committee seat to be decided by voters on Monday.

Troy DeCouto, a 26-year member of the department, was arrested on September 25, 2014 and charged with larceny in excess of $250, a felony. The charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor.

Dartmouth Police began investigating him after surveillance tapes showed him gassing up a personal vehicle, fuel logs showed a discrepancy of 40 gallons, and electronic key logs showed DeCouto’s name, according to the police report from the incident. Detectives arrested DeCouto after 11 days of conducting surveillance, and witnessing him pull up to the gas pump in his black Saab and begin to fuel up.

When confronted, detectives said DeCouto told them he had permission to fuel his vehicle from the fire chief. Then-District No. 1 Chief John Judson denied that claim. DeCouto later admitted to fueling the Saab and a red Dodge that were caught on surveillance four times each, according to the police report.

Dartmouth Week attempted to reach DeCouto for comment on this story, but he declined to speak to a reporter.

In his 2014 witness statement, Judson said DeCouto stole gas “repeatedly over the course of at least two years.”

According to the police report: “Judson provided computer print outs of the key log and fuel system status reports dating back to June 2014. During the months of June, July, and August and part of September, the key log with DeCouto’s name had several entries after midnight. … A corresponding fuel check showed missing fuel.”

Because the district’s fuel logs only showed the previous four months of activity, investigators determined that DeCouto likely stole more, but could not determine exactly how much, according to the police report.

“It’s pretty certain that that behavior went on back” prior to the months logged, Fire District No. 1 Attorney Anthony Savastano told Dartmouth Week.

The felony charge was reduced after DeCouto’s attorney met with Savastano and the Prudential Committee at the time, Savastano said, and “threw himself at the Prudential Committee’s feet,” asking them “not to agree, but don’t object to…having the charges reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.”

In exchange, DeCouto would agree to a civil settlement in which he would pay restitution and not get involved with Fire District and Prudential Committee dealings. He also submitted to a “continuance without a finding,” which means that “he admits there are sufficient facts to find him guilty,” Savastano said.

The Prudential Committee agreed to the terms, which placed DeCouto on probation for six months wherein he was banned from the fire department, had to pay back the district, and could not get into any additional legal trouble.

Then-Prudential Committee member John Haran said that at the time, the committee didn’t want to completely ruin DeCouto’s reputation, as he would lose his job at St. Luke’s Hospital. The district agreed to restitution totaling $6,920, which would cover the gas stolen from June through September of 2014, the district’s attorney fees, investigator fees, as well as court administrative fees.

Public documents state that DeCouto agreed to pay the first $2,000 before Thanksgiving of 2014, but the first payment — totaling $4,420 — didn’t arrive until December 9. On December 30, the fire district received a second check totaling $2,500, the balance of the restitution.

DeCouto stayed away as agreed, but not for a moment longer.

“The exact day his probation ended, he shows up at a Prudential Committee meeting,” Savastano said. “He’s doing all that stuff, they terminate him, he comes back, and now he’s running for the Prudential Committee. The very same municipality that he stole from.”

Haran now wishes the Prudential Committee didn’t grant DeCouto leniency.

The committee “gave him a break. We should not have done it,” Haran said. “Someone who stole $7,000 from the district should not be voted in to deal with the money of the district."

For more information on Monday’s District No. 1 election, click here. To read Troy DeCouto's response, click here.