Former Rosalia firefighter accused of stealing station’s ambulance on Easter Sunday

A former Rosalia firefighter faces felony charges after Whitman County sheriff’s deputies say he was involved in an early-morning Easter ambulance hijacking.

Kelly Brown, 35, who used to be a volunteer firefighter with the Rosalia Fire Department but wasn’t at the time of the theft, was arrested Sunday and charged Monday with burglary and theft.

Deputies say he stole one of the department’s ambulances from the fire station early Sunday morning, according to a press release. The firehouse’s security camera showed Brown enter the station around 1 a.m. and drive away in one of the department’s two ambulances.

He returned the ambulance at around 10 a.m. Deputies said he had “no legitimate reason to put the ambulance into service.”

Brown was arrested two weeks earlier in connection with several crimes, including burglary, second- and third-degree theft, and possession of meth and heroin. Deputies said many of these thefts occurred while Brown was a firefighter in Rosalia.