Former Bar Nunn fire chief pleads not guilty to fraud, theft of fundraiser cash

CASPER, Wyo. — Former Bar Nunn fire chief Robert William Hoover, 57, has pleaded not guilty to felony charges related to allegations of stealing fundraiser cash and misusing about $8,000 of department funds for personal transactions, including the alleged purchase of a less-than-mint-condition ATV from himself.

Hoover was arraigned on two counts of felony theft, one count of credit card fraud and misdemeanor charges of interference and misconduct as a public official before Judge Catherine Wilking on Thursday morning.

Hoover is presumed innocent unless proven or pleading guilty.

Hoover is charged with the theft of about $2,660 from last September’s annual Fill the Boot fundraiser, which raises money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. During the fundraiser, firefighters stage at various locations to collect cash and coins from people who drive up in their vehicles.

Natrona County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Corporal Ken Jividen began the investigation in October after some Fill the Boot volunteers and Bar Nunn firefighters told him they’d noticed a discrepancy between what Hoover said the department raised and the amount deposited for the check to the MDA, according to the affidavit.

Witnesses on the all-volunteer Bar Nunn Fire Department told Jividen that Hoover had announced a specific figure — around $7,000 — raised by the department during the 2024 Fill the Boot event.  The official meeting notes say that Hoover thanked the department for helping to raise $7,327, according to the affidavit.

“There honestly should be no reason whatsoever that $7,300 shouldn’t have been donated,” a BNFD captain told Jividen.

Jividen reviewed security footage at Hilltop Bank from Sept. 11 that showed Hoover handing the teller a plastic tote full of neatly rubber-banded bills and getting a cashier’s check for the MDA deposit for $4,667, which he did not object to, according to the affidavit.

Participants told Jividen that the MDA provides participating departments with promotional materials and attire, that there is no known cost to participate and that the MDA was universally understood to be the sole beneficiary of the fundraiser.

During the investigation, Jividen also found two boots filled with change in Hoover’s office; Hoover said he’d forgotten about them and coins are sometimes held over for the next year’s deposit, according to the affidavit. Jividen collected the boots during a subsequent visit to the station and counted them by hand, coming up with $495.58.

Jividen began reviewing the records for the Bar Nunn Fire Department Mutual Benefit Corporation, which had been created in November 2023. One of the firefighters said that Hoover told the department the account was necessary to keep the Town of Bar Nunn from misappropriating the funds.

Charges on the account did not have notes attached, so Jividen tracked down the individual receipts through the vendors, according to the affidavit. The investigation alleges that Hoover made about $8,000 in fraudulent charges to the department’s bank account, which included purchases for gas, groceries and over $1,300 of Christmas decorations.

A ranking department official told Jividen the department had no need for the decorations, but said that Hoover was a known participant in the annual Bar Nunn Clark Griswold Christmas Decorating Contest.

Records also showed that Hoover had sold his Polaris all-terrain vehicle to the department for $5,500, signing both the “seller” and “purchaser” lines of the unnotarized bill of sale. A department captain said advised Hoover against the unneeded purchase. Jividen noted that the Polaris at the fire department — retailing on average for $4,375 — was in damaged, subpar condition and worth an estimated $4,000 at most.

Hoover arranged to turn himself in on the charges on Jan. 30. The Town of Bar Nunn released a statement saying that the town had separated from Hoover as an employee several weeks prior.

“The allegations all pertain to Mr. Hoover and the Volunteer Fire Department or its separate support organization,” the statement said.

Jividen noted in the report that Bar Nunn had been conducting its own investigation at the same time as the NCSO investigation.

At Hoover’s preliminary hearing on Feb 19, defense attorney Shawn Johnson focused on the Bar Nunn Fire Department’s account having been converted into a private nonprofit corporation which had no formally established rules or bylaws.

“What are the rules?” Johnson asked Jividen.

“We don’t know,” Jividen responded.

“How would they know what’s inappropriate?”

“It’s an assumption.”

Jividen also conceded that a few of the suspicious department purchases could have been made by others, but said that Hoover and his wife were seen on Walmart security cameras for at least some of the transactions.

Hoover remains out of custody on a $3,000 cash or surety bond.