A Colorado firefighter is facing criminal charges and departmental discipline following a prank he played on a fellow firefighter. Firefighter Kevin Adler, 38, a 13 year veteran of the Greeley Fire Department, allegedly put sugar in the gas tank of fellow firefighter Greg Holmes, causing between $2,000 and $3,000 damage.
The incident occurred on August 14, 2011 while Holmes was working overtime. News reports indicate that a romantic jealousy may have been the motive behind the prank, and that it may be connected to a similar prank that damaged the vehicle of another firefighter, Jay Oster, last May.
Both Holmes and Oster allegedly dated firefighter Alicia Matt. Matt has given investigators text messages that Adler sent to her linking him to the vandalism. Alder, who is married with two children, is charged with criminal mischief.
Imagine that another Badge Hound got between some brothers.
That’s not a prank, that’s just stupid.
Justin …. it could be both!!! I gave him the benefit of the doubt by calling it a prank. It could be classified as vandalism, wilful and malicious destruction of property, trespass to chattles…. how far shall we go…
pranks are supposed to be jokes. causing someone $2,000 to $3,000 in damage to their car isn’t a prank and he knew what he was doing. sugar in the gas tank is akin to slashing tires and keying the paint. thats not a prank.
Welllllll… the devil is in the details…. according to the news article he thought the sugar merely clogged the fuel filter causing a much smaller financial impact (again – giving him the benefit of the doubt)…
And pranks are not always well intentioned jokes. Many times pranks are mean spirited – but I agree causing someone $2,000 to $3,000 in damage is vandalism. How about this: sometimes pranks go bad and turn into vandalism… while some things are vandalism from the beginning. I tend to agree with you it was probably the later but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
A prank has a punch line. There is nothing funny about this. You are being very charitable by giving this guy the benefit of the doubt and calling this a prank.
Thanks Anthony – I know its a stretch
Lets see , F/F Alder has done this so-called prank to two of his fellow firefighters , causing damage to their vehicles. This is criminal and he deserves harsh punishment , I would not want to work with this loose cannon.Pranks are done on our dept. ,but people’s cars are off limits along with their bunker gear.
Mike; calling the female firefighter a ‘Badge Hound’ just because she (allegedly) dated a couple of guys on the job is just mean and nasty. It speaks loud and clear to your attitude about women firefighters, and perhaps women in general. I’d suggest you get with the times, but I think I’d be wasting my breath.
1st. FF Adler seems to fit the saying:
“Stupid is as Stupid Does”..Forest Gump.
2nd. The Woman Firefighter should be able to “Date” anyone On or Off the job so long as it doesn’t affect her duties.
You people have no idea…I do, I was there! Mr. Holmes is known for doing pranks with other peoples cars too. He used to jack up peoples cars on blocks and see if they noticed(tires barely off the ground). And then laugh when their tires spun out. Mr. Oster provided no evidence in the case that his car was actually tampered with! He was told to go away or face purgery charges himself.He provided a $6.00 reciept for a fuel filter??? FF.Adler was friends with said girl but was definitely not jealous. He didnt even know they were dating til after the incident. He only warned her about guys and what not to do around this department. The car was fixed once, and mr holmes was such an ass about it, he actually provoked his insurance agent to join his case as a victim and they added another 1800$ to the tab.(Insurance Fraud) Mr Adler never lied about anything!! He admitted it and offered to pay for it!. The chief went ballistic. No one, including the department ever asked FF. Adler’s side of the story.The chief blieved the newspaper article was enough???? The chief bypassed every city and union policy and stated he was fired that night! THEN later backed off and wanted an investigation…yeah right! The news stories were completely taken from police statements by mr. holmes and 99% of it was only conjecture. I was told the chief even threatened the union and they backed off right away and would not represent FF. Adler.You see there really are two sides to every story! Bad prank, yes. But this could’ve been handled waaay differently!Mr. Holmes now has a career were no one trusts him either. Now how much fun is he having by himself for the next 15 or 20 years on the job???? Adler was a stand up man, would take the shirt of his back for a stranger and they wouldn’t have to ask. I would still go into a fire with him over mr.holmes any day of the week and twice on Sundays!!!!!! He was a true firefighter, could think on his feet, and was always safe. They don’t make them like that anymore!! These new kids are just selfish idiots and are only concerned about themselves. If you all only knew, despite his very poor judgement on this one thing.He got railroaded by the department, the union, the chief and all others involved. So, save the harsh words for another day when you know both sides of the story!!!! As for a lot of us, he is truly missed! And we feel they fired the wrong guy!