Three employees of the Liberty County Fire Marshal's Office were arrested and charged with stealing items from accident scenes, a report said

LIBERTY COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Three members of the Liberty County Fire Marshal's Office are free on bail following an investigation by the Texas Rangers into allegations they committed crimes in the course of their work.

William “Bill” Hergemueller, 63, is charged with abuse of office, tampering/falsifying evidence, tampering with government records and theft of property. He is listed as the county fire marshal and coordinator of the Liberty County Emergency Management Office. Hergemueller is also a firefighter with the Highway 321 Volunteer Fire Department.

Erskine “Nat” Holcomb, 64, is charged with tampering with government records and theft. He is deputy fire chief and chief of the Cypress Lakes Volunteer Fire Department.

Jesse McGraw, 49, is charged with falsifying an official document and falsifying or fabricating evidence with intent to detract. He is also a deputy fire chief and assistant chief of the Highway 321 Volunteer Fire Department.

According to their arrest affidavits, none of the men had the necessary licenses to perform their duties with the fire department.

“Employees of the Office of the Fire Marshal did not hold TCFP state licenses to conduct fire inspections, approve plans and permits, or conduct fire investigations,” the court document states.

Nevertheless, according to the document, the men conducted fire safety inspections at the county jail, schools, stores, gas stations and daycare centers and signed occupancy permits.

They also conducted criminal investigations into fires and secured evidence, officials say.

Court records also accuse Hergemüller and Holcomb of theft at accident scenes, including one fatal case.

On December 19, 2022, a semi-truck overturned in a ditch off US-59 in Liberty County. Hergemueller and Holcomb were at the scene of the accident along with other members of their hazardous materials company. They are accused of punching a hole in the semi-truck's diesel tank and pumping the fuel into a 55-gallon drum in the bed of their hazardous materials vehicle.

In addition, the 18-ton truck transported frozen foods such as duck meat, high-quality cheese, croissants, butter and game.

“After emptying the tractor-trailer's tank, (Hergemueller) and approximately three other members of his hazardous materials company began unloading the product from the tractor-trailer's trailer and loading it into their own vehicles to keep for personal use,” the affidavit states.

Less than a year later, Hergemueller, Holcomb and other employees of the hazardous materials company responded to a fatal accident in which the driver of a box truck was killed on FM 787. The arrest affidavit states that the men were allowed to go to the scene with emergency personnel because of their positions with the fire department.

“While on scene, at (Hergemueller's) request, Asst. Chief Holcomb took a 6-foot aluminum ramp belonging to the owner of the box truck and placed it in the bed of (Hergemueller's) vehicle,” the arrest affidavit states.

They are also accused of taking a bumper cover and rims from the van's load.

According to the arrest affidavit, all three men are listed on the nonprofit South Liberty County Hazardous Materials Team, which is under contract with Liberty County.

Hergemueller, identified as the hazmat team chief, is accused of wearing his county fire chief's clothing to call sites to gain early access to their hazmat calls that had nothing to do with his role as fire chief. He is also accused in court documents of using his position to convince towing companies that they must pay his hazmat company a fee to operate in Liberty County.

“The owners of the towing services paid him (Hergemüller) and his hazardous materials company several thousand dollars over time,” the arrest affidavit states.

All three men were booked into jail on Monday and released the same day. ABC13 has reached out to all three men for comment but has not received a response.

ABC13 reached out to Liberty County Judge Jay Knight's office for comment and asked for information on the men's employment status. The office declined to comment and has not commented on their employment status.

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