Homewood Police Department
Former Homewood city finance director Robert Burgett has been arrested on a Class A felony charge alleging Aggravated Theft by Deception regarding misappropriation of city funds.
Christmas came early for the city of Homewood on Sept. 3 as it received roughly half of the $950,000 that was taken by the former finance director.
“I wouldn’t call it Christmas,” Finance Committee member Barry Smith said. “I would call it getting back to even, but it certainly was a welcome thing that happened for sure.”
Mayor Patrick McClusky said in a statement that the city recovered a portion of the funds stolen from the city by former finance director Robert Burgett.
“This initial $500,000 was the result of an insurance payout from the city’s carrier Traveler’s Insurance,” the mayor said. “The city, with assistance from the City Attorney and other investigative agencies, anticipates recovering additional funds. “As we work through this process, we are hopeful that the city will eventually recover the majority – if not the totality – of the embezzled funds.”
Said Smith: “We are working with the FBI in order to recover the remainder of the funds. That’s going to be a little bit longer of a process. But we have every anticipation that we will recoup as much of the money … as we can.”
Burgett, 64, of Hueytown, was jailed in April 2024 and charged with misappropriation of city funds. In August, he was charged in federal district court with three counts of wire fraud and accepted a plea agreement in which he agreed to plead guilty to the charges related to his embezzling nearly $950,000 from the city.
