Former fire marshal Bill Hergemueller is accused of stealing from 18-wheeler accident scenes and performing inspections without being licensed, among other things.

Liberty County officials voted to terminate their fire marshal after he and two other officials were arrested on charges of theft, official oppression and tampering with evidence.

The decision was made during a special commissioner's court meeting on Friday. It turned out that the men weren't properly certified for their positions, and two of them were charged with stealing from crashes they responded to.

The Liberty County Fire Marshal and two of his assistant chiefs are behind bars and now are facing charges. William “Bill” Hergemueller, Nat Holcomb, and Jesse McGraw are charged with theft, official oppression and tampering with evidence.

Liberty County Fire Marshal William Hergemuller was terminated from his position Friday following a months-long Texas Rangers investigation and allegations that he abused his power and stole items from car crash scenes.

The members are accused of unloading product from the scene of a deadly 18-wheeler crash and putting it "into their vehicles to keep for personal use," records alleged. In addition, they allegedly conducted inspections without proper state licenses.

"Complaints were investigated where towing companies were led to believe by Hergemueller that he runs Liberty County and will send an invoice to them for hazmat services," Bergman said. "These towing companies then felt they had to comply by paying the invoice in order to continue working with Liberty County and in order to protect their livelihood.