Cedar Rapids firefighter charged with stealing from fire house

CEDAR RAPIDS - A Cedar Rapids firefighter has been fired after the fire department says it caught him in a sting stealing money from one of the city's fire stations.

Christopher Kyle Slaughter, 34, of North Liberty, has told city officials he will appear Tuesday at a city Civil Service Commission meeting to appeal his firing.

Slaughter, who joined the Fire Department on July 25, 2005, was terminated from city employment on Jan. 5, 2011, after a hearing in front of Fire Chief Stephen Reid, the president of the firefighters union and other city officials.

A week earlier, the Cedar Rapids Police Department had arrested Slaughter for a theft of money on Dec. 22 at the Fire Department's District 3 fire station, 1424 B Ave. NE, a station at which Slaughter was not assigned to work.

The Linn County Attorney subsequently charged Slaughter with a felony, third-degree burglary, and a misdemeanor, fifth-degree theft not exceeding $200, for his actions on Dec. 22.

In a written statement of charges to the Civil Service Commission, Chief Reid states that the Fire Department began an internal investigation after money was stolen on Sept. 20 from the “click” - a shared pot of funds to which firefighters at the station contribute to pay for coffee, condiments and other items - at the District 3 fire station. As part of the probe, the department placed a surveillance camera and video recorder in the station where the money had been stolen. On Dec. 26, another theft of money was reported.

Two days later, fire commanders and police detectives reviewed the surveillance videotape, which shows Slaughter as the person taking money from a locker in a bedroom at the District 3 fire station, according to Chief Reid's statement.

On Dec. 30, Slaughter, who was working at the District 5 fire station on Wilson Avenue SW, was asked to come to the District 3 fire station, where a police detective showed him the video of the Dec. 22 theft. Subsequently, “he confessed to being the one who committed the theft,” the chief's statement says.

Reid states that Slaughter committed “serious violations” of the city's and the Fire Department's rules, including “misconduct, theft and dishonesty.” The conduct is “detrimental to the public service,” the chief states.