A Frazee man was sentenced Tuesday for swindling the Frazee Rescue Squad out of nearly $10,000.
Brian Bruce Bigger, 49, was given 17 months in prison, stayed for 5 years. He’s been ordered to serve 30 days in jail and pay $1,000 in fines and $9,332 in restitution.
Bigger was convicted of felony theft by swindle.
According to the court report, Bigger, who was a member of the Frazee Rescue Squad, had agreed to purchase medical equipment on behalf of the unit on several occasions.
In March 2011, Bigger reportedly led the squad to believe that he had purchased a defibrillator from St. Mary’s in Detroit Lakes for roughly $1,300, even showing squad members a photo copy of the check he had supposedly written out from his personal account.
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He was reimbursed before investigators found out from his financial institution that no such check ever came through and from St. Mary’s that no purchase had ever been made.
In April, 2011, Bigger ordered several medical supplies on behalf of the squad from ZOLL Medical Corporation. The squad also reimbursed Bigger for these expenses, which he claimed to have paid in the amount of $5,623.
It was later found that he had actually stopped payment on those checks that he had already been reimbursed for.
In December 2011, Bigger again led the squad to believe he purchased some medical items for from the University of Minnesota with his own credit card.
He was reimbursed $1,972 for the purchase before the squad was notified by the U of M that the account was not paid.
