Felony charge against former Duck fire chief dropped

Posted to: News North Carolina

By Catherine Kozak
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 20, 2008

DUCK

A felony charge against former Duck Fire Chief John Mascaro that stemmed from an allegedly inaccurate resume has been dropped by the district attorney's office, Mascaro's defense attorney confirmed Friday.

"I researched it and I couldn't find a similar case like this that's ever been prosecuted in the state of North Carolina," said Southern Shores attorney Robert Trivette, who represented Mascaro in the criminal case.

Mascaro served as the town's fire chief from Oct. 5, 2005, until Jan. 24, 2006, when he was fired.

He was charged in May 2006 with obtaining property by false pretenses - a felony.

At a news conference held after Mascaro was charged, Duck Police Chief Dale Hamilton said the town believed Mascaro's employment background had been misrepresented in information he had provided to the town.

Town Manager Christopher Layton said on Friday that the town had been told that the case would be prosecuted. He said that he and other town officials disagreed with the recent decision to drop the charge.

"It wasn't our choice," Layton said. "We have to respect their decision to take that position and dismiss the charge, but we're disappointed."

A phone number listed for Mascaro in Kitty Hawk was disconnected.

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com

No surprises here...

Submitted by Gibson25 on Sun, 04/20/2008 at 12:30 pm.

Incorrect or inappropriate procedures in Duck? Surely this must be an anomoly...then again, who are we kidding. In a town where the one qualification for becoming a member of the town council is having lived there for less than two weeks, there should be no surprise that haphazard approaches to government should lead to haphazard or careless administration of government.

Agree--they owe an apology.

They owe the Chief an apology.

Submitted by donvabeach on Sun, 04/20/2008 at 12:22 am.

What crime was Mr. Mascaro being accused of? They're trying to grab back all the money they paid him, and on top of that, they wanted to stamp him for life as a felon? For what?

How big a town is Duck?.....five or six hundred people? Do they really have the money and time to persecute someone for resume inconsistencies?

If every person who planted an "inaccuracy" on a resume was prosecuted as a felon, we'd have to double the jails we have in this Country.

I think the Duck Township leaders owe the Chief an apology. This was way overblown. I don't care WHAT deficiency they found....this was overkill.

BTW, I know none of the people involved.....and no one in Duck. Nor do I want to.