Two high-ranking investigators in the D.C. fire department have been transferred out of their unit after the disappearance of tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of confiscated fireworks, The Examiner has learned.
Veteran firefighters Lt. Craig Duck and Sgt. Aaron Hazel were moved to other jobs within the fire department late last year when the D.C. inspector general began to look into how a large truckload of fireworks and about $5,000 in cash vanished from an evidence lockup.
“It doesn’t insinuate anyone’s guilt or innocence, it’s just standard procedure to preserve the integrity of the investigation,” said D.C. fire department spokesman Alan Etter. “We are cooperating fully.”
Last week, investigators from the inspector general’s office visited the fire marshal’s office to gather evidence and take statements, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the inspector general’s probe is still officially open.
The fireworks were kept in large storage containers and disappeared after the evidence was moved from a station house in Petworth to the Engine 8 station house, at 1520 C St. SE, in the Hill East neighborhood.
The evidence had been missing for more than a month before a police report was filed, the sources said.
Hundreds of boxes of illegal fireworks worth more than $50,000 were confiscated during the July Fourth holiday as part of D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin’s crackdown on the selling of illegal pyrotechnics. The task force arrested 10 people during its raids.
