Purchase of women’s clothing by male fire chief leads to criminal charges
Dighton Fire Chief suspected of using town money on women's clothing https://t.co/ftLkLDEmCK pic.twitter.com/RgFkctGcuX
— ABC6 News Desk (@ABC6) November 30, 2016
After reading details about Dighton, Massachusetts Fire Chief Antone Roderick being charged with using his town’s clothing allowance to buy woman’s workout clothes and lying about it to police, I was reminded of a very old joke from the late Henny Youngman. It’s about two men in a country club locker room getting dressed after a round of golf. One man sees the other putting on a girdle and asks his buddy how long he’s been wearing a girdle. His friend replies, “Ever since my wife found it in the glove box of my car.” (NOTE: Yes, I’m aware a good portion of the STATter911 audience is asking who’s Henny Youngman and what’s a girdle.)
You have to wonder if that joke can help us understand what Dighton Fire Chief Antone Roderick did after being confronted about buying women’s apparel with his clothing allowance from Dighton. According to news reports, while trying to explain to Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Reynolds why he bought this clothing and why receipts were altered to say “men’s” instead of “women’s” clothing, Chief Dighton insisted on trying on the clothes to prove the items fit him.
In his report, according to Taunton Gazette reporter Rebecca Hyman, Trooper Reynolds wrote,“Chief Roderick was able to put the clothes on but in manners that don’t appear to be the intended use for the clothing.”
The town’s accountant blew the whistle on this when she saw an altered receipt for a $99 women’s jacket. Other altered invoices found, according to reporter Hyman, were for a $45 pair of women’s Nike capris, a $34 tube top and a $59 women’s compression camisole.
Chief Roderick was arraigned yesterday (Tuesday) and has been suspended without pay today.
Dighton fire chief suspended without pay. pic.twitter.com/PAEEaoIy9j
— Rebecca Hyman (@rebeccahymanWL) November 30, 2016
Rebecca Hyman, Taunton Gazette:
According to Reynolds’ report, Roderick told him he had purchased the items for himself because they fit better since he had lost a lot of weight.
Roderick said he suffered from knee and hip pain and used the tube top and compression camisole around his waist for support when he runs, the report stated.
Reynolds said he interviewed Roderick’s girlfriend in September, as well. At first, she told him she did not believe Roderick had given any of the items to her, Reynolds stated in his report. But at a later date, she said she had checked again and realized he had given her the capri pants but Roderick himself wore the jacket and he had not given her the compression items, which she could not wear anyway due to back problems, the report stated.
