CORNELIA – On Monday, the GBI announced the arrest of Lavonia Assistant Fire Chief Shane Bentley, 41, for four counts of felony theft by taking.
Bentley, who lives in Lavonia, serves full-time as assistant chief of Cornelia Fire Department.
“The allegations against the city employee do not involve the City of Cornelia,” a two-sentence statement from Cornelia City Manager Donald Anderson issued Tuesday reads. “No action is being considered at this time.”
“Bentley was the assistant chief of the Lavonia Volunteer Fire Department and is suspected of using city funds to purchase equipment not for fire department use,” a statement from GBI Special Agent in Charge Jesse Maddox of the Bureau’s Athens office reads.
Bentley turned himself in to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Monday.
On May 20, Lavonia Police Department requested the Athens GBI office to investigate after city officials discovered unusually high expenditures by Lavonia Volunteer Fire Department over the course of several months.
“Several of those purchases were unaccounted for and not made specifically for the fire department,” the GBI statement reads.
