Charges have been filed against a former James City resident who allegedly transferred money from the James City centennial fund into a personal account,

Michael John Niklas, 40, is charged with "theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received," according to the criminal complaint filed with District Judge Tony King of Johnsonburg.

Niklas is accused of writing a centennial committee check for $2,464.61 to his personal business, Niklas Electric, according to court records.

Niklas, who now resides in Russell City and serves as chief of the Highlands Township Volunteer Fire Department based in James City, waived his preliminary hearing earlier this week before Judge King. Niklas is represented by Ridgway attorney James Martin, court records show. The case now moves to Elk County Court with a tentative court date set for Sept. 2, according to district court information. Niklas remains free on $2,500 "unsecured" bail set by Judge King.-

The state Criminal Justice Code points out, in part,  that the felony charge is linked with theft if the defendant "intentionally deals with the property obtained as his own."

Ridgway-based State Police Trooper Gregory J. Raybuck placed the charge following an investigation in May.

During the investigation, Trooper Raybuck said he interviewed Charles Vaughn, a James City resident who is chairman of the Highland Township Board of Supervisors.

According to court records, Niklas served on the committee for the James City Centennial celebration in 2006. He had never before "written checks without the approval of the committee," court documents show.

"Standard procedure before any funds are withdrawn from the account is for approval to be granted in front of the committee," court records indicate. "This has always been the procedure and the defendant is well aware of the procedure," according to court documents.

Vaughn allegedly told Trooper Raybuck that "the committee has been asking the defendant for an account balance for several weeks, but he has failed to provide one," court records show. Vaughn reportedly "went to the bank" and "found that the suspect had written a check from the committee's account for the entire balance," court records show. "This check was written out to the defendant's personal electrical business in the amount of $2,464.61."

Trooper Raybuck also interviewed Niklas during his investigation.

According to court records, Niklas "volunteered to be in charge of the Centennial Committee because no one else wanted to do it."

"We raised some money and I opened an account with County National Bank in Kane," Niklas said, court records show. "The money has been in the account for almost two years and I kept telling the other members that we needed to do something with it. No one wanted to do anything with it."

According to court documents, Niklas told Trooper Raybuck that he "decided to close the Centennial Committee account" because he already had three small business accounts in his name. He said that he had plans to open another business and claimed that having numerous business accounts would require him to incorporate.

"I wrote a check from the (centennial) account in the name of my business because a guy had paid me in cash for a job and I would rather have a check to show the government my earnings," Niklas said, according to court documents. "I took the money from the (centennial) account and put it into a safe in my house. I wasn't stealing the money. I was putting in in a safe place until the committee decided what they wanted to do with money."