A recently elected Democrat in Oregon has been charged with stealing from a senior citizen and pressured into resigning from her office while awaiting trial.
Melissa Fireside, 43, was elected last November as one of the Clackamas County Commissioners and she assumed the office in January this year. While she was running for a seat on the county commission, police had already launched a criminal investigation into her over allegations of theft. In late October, just a week before the election, police served a search warrant at her house in Lake Oswego.
Fireside continued her campaign rather quietly as the allegations made news and her campaign’s website and Facebook page were taken down, as reported by The Oregonian (December 3, 2024). The story cited an unnamed source to report that the victim of Fireside’s theft was an elderly person.
Three months later, Fireside has been formally indicted on 8 counts of theft that include Aggravated Theft in the First Degree and Identity Theft. A press release by the Oregon Department of Justice (March 5, 2025) briefly specified the charges and mentioned the age of her victim:
Fireside is charged with taking financial advantage of an 83-year-old man while accessing a computer network, as well as forging his and Dobson’s signature as part of the scheme.
The same day, Willamette Week identified the victim as 83-year-old Arthur Wayne Petrone who was defrauded of at least $74,000 by Fireside. The elected Democrat also forged the signature of state Representative April Dobson, also a Democrat.
Fireside did not offer resignation immediately but eventually did so after backlash from the public and her fellow county commissioners. According to The Oregonian, the Board of Commissioners Chair Craig Roberts requested Fireside’s resignation. Fireside has pleaded not guilty and her next court appearance is set for April 28.
Melissa Fireside wasn’t the only elected Democrat making news the past week for criminal activity. The weekend before, a Democrat Representative from the Connecticut House of Representatives was arrested for DUI. Aundré Bumgardner, the Democrat lawmaker, was arrested early Sunday morning (March 2) and charged with DUI and reckless driving, Fox News reported. Bumgardner’s wife was asleep in the backseat as police stopped and arrested the lawmaker, who told the police that his wife was intoxicated and he was driving her home. His blood alcohol level was found to be twice the legal limit when he was arrested.