HUDSON – Chatham Village Police Chief Peter Volkmann pled guilty to grand larceny and official misconduct following an investigation by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka. As a result of his conviction, Volkmann must leave public office.
He pled guilty to the grand jury charge for circumventing the state’s post-retirement income restrictions and cheating the State and Local Retirement System out of $75,222. He hid public-source income from 19 municipalities and school districts in excess of the statutory limit by funneling the earnings through a private business, PF Volkmann & Associates. He also pled guilty to official misconduct for stealing $28,607 from the Village of Chatham by falsifying mileage vouchers and other reimbursements to increase his income.
Volkmann, 57, of Stuyvesant, will pay a total restitution of $92,839 before sentencing. He is due back in court on July 19.
Volkmann served as a chief of police for the Town of Stockport until 2016. He was also Chatham police chief since the fall of 2013 and he served as unpaid commissioner of the Hudson Police Department from January 2020, until this investigation became public.
