Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Former Homewood Finance Director Robert Burgett is pictured from a January 2024 Homewood Finance Committee meeting.
The former finance director for the city of Homewood has been charged with, and agreed to plead guilty to, crimes related to his embezzling nearly $950,000 from the city, United States Attorney Prim Escalona and FBI Special Agent in Charge Carlton Peeples announced today.
Robert Winston Burgett, 64, of Hueytown, was charged in federal district court with three counts of wire fraud. Also filed today was a plea agreement in which Burgett agreed to plead guilty to the charges.
According to the information and plea agreement, Burgett worked for the city of Homewood as its finance director. Between at least May 2023 and about March 2024, Burgett used that position to embezzle almost $950,000 from city bank accounts.
Burgett concealed his conduct by first moving the city’s funds into a commercial bank account he controlled before transferring the funds into his personal account. Burgett also altered city bank account statements and made false journal entries in city accounting records. He ultimately used the embezzled funds for personal purposes.
The court will set a date for Burgett to enter his guilty plea. The FBI and the Homewood Police Department investigated the case with assistance from the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts. Assistant U.S. Attorney J.B. Ward is prosecuting the case.
The information released by the district federal court today contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
