Community Corner
Former Firefighter Pleads No Contest to Stealing Department Radios, Selling Them Online
Torrance resident Marcel Dione Melanson was also accused of setting a fire to destroy evidence.
A former Compton Fire Department deputy chief pleaded no contest today to embezzlement and arson for stealing thousands of dollars worth of the department's Motorola radios to sell online and setting a fire to destroy evidence.
Marcel Dione Melanson, 38, of Torrance, faces three years and four months in prison when he is sentenced May 22. He was allowed to remain free on bail pending sentencing.
The radios were purchased by Compton's city government in connection with the planned re-establishment of the Compton Police Department, according to the Sheriff's Department. The Compton City Council, however, eventually dropped the plan to re-establish its own police department because of the city's financial difficulties.
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The Compton Fire Department chief asked the sheriff's Internal Criminal Investigation Bureau in January 2012 to assist in its investigation into the Dec. 11, 2011, blaze at the fire department's headquarters.
--City News Service
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