Alfalfa, Ore. — Newly obtained credit card records from the Alfalfa Fire District reveal extensive travel expenditures involving former Fire Chief Chad LaVallee, including trips across the country, repeated hotel stays, rental vehicles, vacation packages and airfare purchased for members of his family.
The records, provided to the Prineville Review by newly appointed board president Robert “Bob” Kathman in response to ongoing records requests, contain over 200 recorded transactions totaling approximately $56,000 in expenses, covering purchases primarily between mid-2021 and the first half of 2024.
A review of the transactions identified nearly $36,000 associated with specific trips, including travel involving LaVallee, his wife Leslie, their minor son, former Operations Chief Keegan Parvin and former firefighter Ronald Reed.
Editor's Note: The Prineville Review is providing all of the credit card records recently obtained. They are linked towards the bottom of this article. Some records are believed to be missing within the provided timeframe and have not yet been released by the Alfalfa Fire District.
The spending involved destinations throughout the country, including Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Missouri, Louisiana, Utah and Nevada.
Some travel appears to have been associated with district business, including the inspection and retrieval of two ladder trucks. However, the statements also document multiple trips to Las Vegas, airfare purchased for LaVallee’s family members, and other expenditures whose public purpose remains unclear.
The district’s legal counsel, Jered Reid, had previously failed to produce the credit card statements responsive to the Prineville Review’s public records requests and subsequently refused to provide updated estimates for their production, despite the requirements of ORS 192.328(8), which obligates public bodies to provide a reasonable estimated date of completion when records cannot be produced within the statutory timeframe.
This publication sought the excluded statements after reviewing the district’s 2026 bank account records, which it provided in late September (after repeated delays), and which revealed extensive payments to district credit card accounts shortly before LaVallee was scheduled to step down as fire chief. Reid’s continued failure to provide updated production estimates, despite repeated requests, raises additional concerns about the district’s compliance with Oregon’s Public Records Law.
Among the more notable purchases was a December 2023 trip in which LaVallee, Parvin and Reed flew to Las Vegas on United Airlines and returned the following day on Southwest Airlines. The district paid more than $2,100 for the six airline tickets alone, along with a $130.94 charge at a bar inside the MGM Grand.
Another Las Vegas trip in February 2022 involved LaVallee, his wife and a volunteer firefighter attending a certification clinic. Two former district volunteers have since questioned whether the LaVallees participated in the training or used the district-funded trip for personal travel.
But there were even more trips by LaVallee and his wife to Vegas costing over $4,000 in one occasion in June of 2024.
The records also reveal a recurring pattern of last-minute travel arrangements, with numerous hotel reservations and airfare purchases appearing to have been made just days before travel, and in many instances on the very day of a scheduled flight or hotel stay. They also provide a substantially more detailed look at spending under LaVallee’s leadership than had previously been available to the public, amid longstanding concerns about financial oversight within the small, rural fire district southeast of Bend.
The statements do not include the underlying receipts, invoices, travel authorizations or reimbursement documentation.
Nationwide travel included hotels, rental vehicles, and vacation packages
The credit card statements document numerous trips involving LaVallee over approximately three years, with airfare, accommodations, rental vehicles, and incidental expenses charged to district accounts.
One of the earlier trips involved Phoenix, Arizona, in 2021, with $803.89 in identified expenses. Those included $679.60 in airline-related purchases issued in LaVallee’s name and $124.29 for accommodations at a Holiday Inn Express in Scottsdale.
In September and October 2021, another trip to Denver, Colorado, resulted in $1,919.52 in identified expenses, including $468.80 in airfare and baggage charges, $624.76 in hotel expenses, $286.16 for a rental vehicle, and a $539.80 Priceline vacation-package purchase.
Shortly after that trip, LaVallee made another trip involving Colorado and Wyoming in late October.
LaVallee then charged the credit card $299.20 for a Delta Air Lines ticket from Redmond to Denver, connecting through Salt Lake City, and another $352.40 for a United Airlines return flight.
The records also identify a $100.65 Thrifty rental vehicle in Denver, a $177.60 Hampton Inn charge in Wyoming, and a $133.73 Best Western charge in Hudson, Colorado.
Additional transactions included $40 in fuel purchased at an ExxonMobil station in Lander, Wyoming, $20 at The Forks Mercantile & Livermore Co., and a $186.54 Priceline vacation package.
The transactions suggest LaVallee traveled into Wyoming before returning to Colorado, although the exact itinerary is not established by the statements.
Including rental-car toll charges, the identified expenses for that trip appeared to total $1,395.46.
Other purchases included a $494.50 rental vehicle at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in July 2023, a $287.50 stay at Lincoln Sands Oceanfront Resort in Lincoln City, and a $209.39 stay at Staybridge Suites in Hillsboro.
The travel records reflect a wide geographic range of destinations, although the district has not provided supporting documentation explaining the official purpose of many of the trips.
Weeklong Virginia trip among costly East Coast excursions
One of the more expensive individual trips involved a weeklong stay by former chief LaVallee in Charlottesville, Virginia, in October 2022, with the district spending at least $3,219.22 on airfare, hotel accommodations and rental-car expenses.
The transactions were associated with travel from October 15th through October 22nd.
The records identify two Delta Air Lines tickets issued in LaVallee’s name, costing $933.10 and $603.10, along with another $147.54 in airfare-related charges.
Together, those airline expenses totaled $1,683.74. LaVallee also paid $1,451.78 for accommodations at the Holiday Inn Monticello in Charlottesville, covering October 15th through October 22nd, and another $83.70 in rental-car expenses.
The expenditures were spread across two district credit card accounts, ending in 0683 and 4047.
Another substantial trip involved Charlotte, North Carolina, in October and November 2023, with $2,362.98 in identified expenses.
That included $786.90 for a United Airlines ticket issued to LaVallee, $336 for four Economy Plus seat upgrades, $51.15 in travel protection, a $139.96 rental vehicle and a $1,048.97 Priceline vacation-package purchase.
The statements also document a February 2024 trip involving Beaufort, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, with LaVallee and Parvin identified in the travel records. Parvin was allegedly working with LaVallee’s private company, unregistered training business “Black Smoke Training,” according to a source and former Alfalfa volunteer firefighter who spoke with the Prineville Review on condition of anonymity because of fears of retaliation.
That trip resulted in $2,213.48 in associated expenses, including airfare, seat upgrades, baggage fees, hotel accommodations, food purchases and a rental vehicle.
LaVallee’s United Airlines ticket cost $596.30, with additional charges for Economy Plus seating, baggage and a $139 premium-cabin upgrade, which is United’s domestic first-class.
The records also identify baggage charges issued in Parvin’s name. Two $131.08 charges appear for accommodations at SpringHill Suites in Beaufort, while a rental vehicle in Savannah cost $486.26.
The trip also included two purchases at an Enmarket location in Beaufort, totaling $126.
Combined, the identified Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina/Georgia trips accounted for $7,795.68 in expenditures.
The transaction notes associate the South Carolina trip with private instruction, although the statements themselves do not establish the nature of the training or whether an outside organization reimbursed the district.
February 2022 Las Vegas trip involved chief, wife and volunteer attending certification clinic
Another trip involved LaVallee, his wife Leslie and former district volunteer firefighter Robert “Robe” Hollenbeck, who traveled to Las Vegas in February 2022.
LaVallee purchased six Delta Air Lines tickets for the three passengers, with travel between Redmond and Las Vegas connecting through Salt Lake City.
The tickets totaled $681.60.
The same series of transactions included two advance reservations at MGM Signature in Las Vegas, totaling $202.38, with accommodations scheduled from February 6th through February 10th.
Additional charges included a $492.77 Priceline vacation package, $178.95 in travel protection and another $130 in airline-related purchases.
Altogether, the district’s credit card was charged $1,685.70 in connection with the trip.
According to Ashley Shawe, a former district volunteer who resigned in 2023 and was among the whistleblowers featured in a January 2024 investigation by our news partners at KTVZ News, Hollenbeck traveled to Las Vegas to attend a firefighter certification clinic.
Shawe and another former district firefighter, who spoke with the Prineville Review on condition of anonymity because of fears of retaliation, expressed concerns that Chad and Leslie LaVallee accompanied Hollenbeck without participating in the certification training themselves.
Both former volunteers believed the LaVallees may have used the district-funded travel as an opportunity for a personal trip.
Records maintained by the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) show that Hollenbeck obtained his Firefighter Type 1 and Type 2 certifications that month.
However, DPSST records do not identify a corresponding certification obtained by Leslie LaVallee during that period.
Her records show she had already obtained her NFPA Fire Fighter I certification in October 2021, with her next listed certification, Fire Apparatus Driver, occurring in September 2022.
DPSST records also indicate that Hollenbeck subsequently resigned from the Alfalfa Fire District in November 2024.
Additional airfare purchased for LaVallee’s wife and son for family trip
The February 2022 Las Vegas trip was not the only instance in which district credit cards were used to purchase airfare for members of LaVallee’s family.
Another series of purchases involved San Antonio, Texas, in March 2023.
LaVallee paid $777.40 for a Delta Air Lines ticket issued to himself in late February, followed by separate $788.40 tickets for Leslie and Wyatt LaVallee, which were purchased weeks later, immediately before travel.
The transactions also included airline-related fees, travel protection and a $433.57 stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Live Oak, Texas.
According to multiple sources and community members we’ve spoken to in recent months, the LaVallees have family in Texas and were known to travel there.
Together, the identified expenses for this trip totaled $3,005.36.
These latest records also come amid an ongoing investigation by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) into allegations involving nepotism, conflicts of interest, and misuse of public office within the Alfalfa Fire District, namely surrounding LaVallee’s hiring and continued supervision of his wife.
As we previously reported, the commission voted in early May 2026 to authorize a formal investigation following a preliminary review of the allegations.
Under Oregon law, the commission generally has 180 days to complete its investigative phase. That period is now approaching its conclusion, with an investigative report expected to be presented to commissioners at either their November or December meeting.
The newly obtained credit card records are only adding more questions surrounding LaVallee’s handling of public funds and the board’s seeming failure to conduct appropriate oversight.
Ladder-truck purchases raise questions over travel costs and board oversight, according to former firefighter
Some of the district’s extensive travel expenditures appear to have been associated with the inspection and acquisition of fire apparatus. However, the newly obtained credit card records also raise questions about how much the district spent traveling across the country to evaluate vehicles, whether those expenditures were authorized by its elected board, and what financial oversight existed over the purchases.
A former Alfalfa Fire District firefighter familiar with the district’s apparatus purchases told the Prineville Review that personnel traveled to inspect and retrieve two ladder trucks in late 2023 and early 2024.
The former firefighter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of retaliation, explained that the district initially acquired a ladder truck in November 2023 before subsequently selling it and pursuing a replacement.
The financial records are consistent with portions of that account.
On November 14th, 2023, the district purchased three Alaska Airlines tickets for LaVallee, former Operations Chief Keegan Parvin and former firefighter Ronald Reed, each costing $214.20, for travel from Redmond to Denver through Seattle.
Additional expenses included a $274.42 Expedia charge and $31.99 in airline-related fees, bringing the identified expenses for that trip to $949.01.
The one-way airline tickets are consistent with personnel traveling to retrieve a vehicle and drive it back to Oregon.
However, the district’s apparent decision to replace that truck within months resulted in additional travel and transportation expenses.
In March 2024, the district incurred another $693.91 in expenses associated with a trip to Salt Lake City to inspect a prospective replacement ladder truck.
Those charges included a $478.10 Delta Air Lines ticket issued to Parvin, $24 in airport parking and a $191.81 Enterprise rental vehicle identifying LaVallee.
The district then incurred another $5,846.33 in April 2024 expenses associated with retrieving the replacement truck.
Those charges included three one-way Delta tickets for LaVallee, Parvin and Reed, costing $397.60 each, for a combined $1,192.80 in airfare.
More significantly, the district also paid $1,154 to B&W Wrecker Service in Boise and $3,499.53 to Roadrunner Towing in Ontario, totaling $4,653.53 just to get the truck back to Alfalfa.
According to the former firefighter, personnel encountered mechanical problems while bringing the replacement apparatus back to Oregon, reportedly requiring additional expenditures for new tires.
Combined, the three identified trips associated with inspecting and retrieving the two ladder trucks accounted for $7,489.25 in expenditures.
Those expenses were incurred in addition to the actual purchase prices of the vehicles, which are not established by the credit card statements. According to board meeting minutes from April 10th, 2024, the difference between the sale price of the first ladder truck and the second ladder truck was supposed to be under $10,000.
The amount spent traveling to inspect prospective apparatus, followed by the acquisition and relatively quick replacement of the first ladder truck, raises questions about the district’s purchasing process and whether the elected board authorized the full extent of the expenditures.
The former firefighter also questioned whether LaVallee had obtained appropriate board approval before incurring expenses associated with evaluating and acquiring vehicles.
The concerns are particularly relevant given more recent discoveries involving the district’s handling of publicly owned vehicles.
Three firefighters flew to Las Vegas and returned the following day
Just weeks after the November trip to Denver to obtain the first purchased ladder truck, LaVallee, Parvin and Reed traveled together again, this time to Las Vegas.
Unlike the earlier one-way tickets associated with retrieving a ladder truck, the December trip involved round-trip airfare for all three individuals.
On December 14th, 2023, LaVallee purchased three United Airlines tickets for travel from Redmond to Las Vegas through San Francisco.
Each ticket cost $339.20, bringing the outbound airfare to $1,017.60.
The following day, December 15th, LaVallee purchased three Southwest Airlines tickets for the same individuals, returning from Las Vegas to Eugene through Oakland, California.
Each return ticket cost $372.98, bringing the last minute return airfare to $1,118.94. The six tickets alone cost the district $2,136.54 for travel to Las Vegas and back the following day.
The expenses did not end with airfare. On December 15th, the district’s credit card was charged $130.94 at TAP Sports Bar, a bar inside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The statements also identify a $52 Economy Plus seat upgrade for LaVallee and a $231.30 Enterprise Rent-A-Car transaction in Eugene identifying LaVallee.
Together, the nine transactions associated with the trip totaled $2,550.78.
Of that amount, $2,188.54 involved airfare and the seat upgrade, $130.94 was spent at the MGM Grand restaurant, and $231.30 involved the rental vehicle. That MGM expense seemingly confirmed the date they were actually in Vegas and that LaVallee purchased the airline tickets at the last minute.
The former firefighter who described the ladder-truck acquisitions said the circumstances surrounding those purchases did not explain the December Las Vegas trip, as the district had already obtained the ladder-truck.
The statements likewise provide no indication that the three men were retrieving a vehicle, particularly considering their return flights the following day.
The records do not identify the official purpose of the travel or what was purchased at TAP Sports Bar.
The trip represents one of the more substantial short-duration travel expenditures identified in the statements for which supporting documentation establishing the official nature of the trip.
Another Las Vegas trip involved LaVallee and his wife in June 2024
The December trip was not the last Las Vegas-related expenditure appearing in the records.
In June 2024, the district’s credit card was again used for travel involving Chad and Leslie LaVallee, with nine identified transactions totaling a whopping $4,200.28.
Those included $1,742.64 through Priceline.com, $1,124.02 in airline tickets purchased through Priceline, and $266.67 at MGM Signature in Las Vegas.
The records also identify multiple Delta Air Lines transactions issued in the names of Chad and Leslie for travel from Las Vegas to Redmond through Salt Lake City.
Two of those tickets cost $337.97 each, while two additional transactions cost $156.01 each.
Other charges included travel protection and an additional airline-related fee.
Louisiana travel and LaVallee’s outside training activities
LaVallee’s outside instructional activities have separately been the subject of reporting by the Prineville Review.
In a September 2026 report, we reported on discrepancies involving LaVallee’s claimed professional experience and his representations to outside firefighter training organizations. That included his claims of working for the Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, a claim agency officials disputed on multiple occasions.
That investigation also identified his association with Black Smoke Training, which LaVallee has represented himself as owning, although the publication was unable to locate a corresponding business registration.
Records obtained from the Louisiana Firefighters Foundation earlier this year confirmed that LaVallee provided instruction during its March 2026 conference, with a W-9 identifying him individually rather than Black Smoke Training.
The newly obtained credit card statements also show district-funded travel involving Louisiana in September 2023.
Those transactions included a $1,376 United Airlines ticket issued to LaVallee, $89.44 in travel protection, a $460 rental-car charge in St. Louis, Missouri, and a $301.87 rental vehicle in Lafayette, Louisiana.
The identified expenses totaled $2,227.31.
We are preparing to submit subsequent public records requests regarding LaVallee’s past instructor work in Louisiana.
Photography expense and other unusual purchases
The statements also identify expenditures unrelated to the travel itineraries that warrant additional scrutiny.
Among them is a $1,380 payment made November 14th, 2021, to Fire Dog Photo, a photography business.
The charge is notable because the company had previously published photographs featuring district firefighters and family members, including LaVallee’s son wearing firefighting gear just months earlier.
The credit card statement, however, does not include an invoice establishing precisely what services were purchased or whether the district received photographs intended for official use. What is clear is that no records exist showing any authorized expenditure from the board.
Other transactions of interest included a $560 payment in December of 2022 to Bava LLC , which, according to the Oregon Secretary of State, is a short-term rental property company in Bend.
Newly appointed board president provides records after prolonged delays
The newly obtained statements were released amid a longstanding dispute over the Alfalfa Fire District’s handling of public records requests.
For more than a year, the Prineville Review has sought financial documents from the district, including bank statements, credit card records and supporting documentation associated with its expenditures.
LaVallee initially handled those requests and demands for payment for simple bank statements, further claiming the need to perform redactions authorized under the law.
The publication has repeatedly encountered delays and disputed explanations concerning the district’s ability to locate and produce records, and in July an attorney representing this publication filed a lawsuit on our behalf in response to LaVallee’s handling of one of our earlier records requests for bank statements that is still pending in Deschutes County Circuit Court.
In an October 27th email forwarded by district legal counsel Jered Reid, director Mark Laucks claimed he might have to manually scan numerous credit card statements.
“There are many statements, and I am not compensated for this service,” Laucks wrote.
He also said he had not been the custodian or user of the accounts and that a proper transition of authority had not occurred with Elan, the financial institution providing the cards, following LaVallee’s departure.
The Prineville Review questioned those explanations, particularly the apparent inconsistency between possessing records that required scanning while simultaneously claiming an inability to access them from the bank. We also questioned why Laucks was handling the requests when director Carolyn Chase had previously been assigned by a vote of the board to assist legal counsel with public records matters.
After appealing directly to newly appointed board president Bob Kathman for assistance, we received the older credit card statements within days.
Kathman’s involvement appears to mark a significant improvement in the district’s handling of records requests, although the precise steps he took to obtain the documents remain unclear. The records provided, however, were responsive to earlier requests rather than the more recent requests for 2026 Mastercard statements.
Those newer statements remain outstanding.
Editor's Note: The publication has indicated it is now withholding a petition to the Deschutes County District Attorney it intended to file while Kathman works to secure the remaining records, in the hope that the district can resolve the matter without further intervention.
Credit card spending raises questions about board oversight and potential conflicts of interest
Beyond the individual expenditures, the newly obtained records raise broader questions about how the district’s elected board allowed years of credit card spending to occur without apparent scrutiny of the underlying transactions, and whether some board members may have personally benefited from expenditures they were responsible for overseeing.
During public meetings over the past year, the Prineville Review has repeatedly observed the board reviewing and approving financial reports identifying payments toward district credit card accounts, without presenting the corresponding itemized statements showing what was actually purchased.
The practice raises concerns about whether board members had sufficient information to evaluate the expenditures they were approving, particularly those involving frequent nationwide travel, airfare for family members, and expenses potentially associated with LaVallee’s private activities.
Questions also extend to former board president Nathan Starr and director Mark Laucks, both of whom reportedly participated in meals paid for by LaVallee using district funds.
Among the transactions identified in the credit card records was a charge at Okawa for over $565.87, a Japanese restaurant in Bend. A former district firefighter familiar with the spending confirmed to the Prineville Review that Starr was among those present at that dinner.
The circumstances raise questions about whether board members who benefited from district-funded meals were adequately scrutinizing LaVallee’s use of the credit cards, including whether those expenditures were authorized and served legitimate public purposes.
Separate concerns have emerged involving Starr’s own use of district property.
Starr, who resigned as board president in May 2026, is also the pastor of Alfalfa Community Church, a small congregation that had been holding Sunday services at the district’s fire station.
Amid the controversy surrounding his resignation, Starr maintained that the church was paying the district $25 per use for its services at the facility.
However, a review of the district’s 2026 bank statements did not identify corresponding payments from the church, raising questions about whether the district was receiving the compensation Starr claimed.
The absence of identifiable deposits does not conclusively establish that no payments were made, particularly without reviewing the district’s complete accounting records, receipts, and any payments made through other means.
The church has reportedly since discontinued holding services at the fire station following Starr’s resignation and the surrounding controversy.
The arrangement presents additional questions about potential conflicts of interest and whether Starr, as both a district board member and pastor of the church, received or facilitated a financial benefit for an organization with which he was closely associated.
It also remains unclear when the district originally opened the credit card accounts or how long similar spending practices may have continued.
The statements obtained thus far date back only to 2021, despite LaVallee having served as fire chief since 2018.
This publication intends to seek additional credit card statements dating back to the beginning of LaVallee’s tenure, along with records establishing when the accounts were opened, who was authorized to use them, and what oversight procedures were in place.
Those records could help establish whether the spending documented between 2021 and 2024 was part of a longer pattern and whether the district’s elected board exercised meaningful financial oversight during LaVallee’s tenure.
Full listing of trips and copy of credit card statement records
You can download the entire PDF containing the credit card statements by clicking here. Please note that these are larger PDF files and are broken out by year: 2021 Statements — 2022 Statements — 2023 Statements — 2024 Statements
2021
- Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona — August 2021: $803.89 — Chad LaVallee.
- Denver, Colorado — September 30th–October 3rd, 2021: $1,919.52 — Chad LaVallee.
- Colorado and Wyoming — Late October 2021: $1,395.46 — Chad LaVallee.
- Charlotte, North Carolina — November 15th–20th, 2021: $1,087.76 — Chad LaVallee. Includes a $191 charge to Twisted Fire Industries.
2022
- Las Vegas, Nevada — February 6th–10th, 2022: $1,685.70 — Chad LaVallee, Leslie LaVallee and Robert “Robe” Hollenbeck. Trip reportedly associated with Hollenbeck’s firefighter certification training, but questions raised over the necessity of the LaVallees’ attendance.
- Charlottesville, Virginia — October 15th–22nd, 2022: $3,219.22 — Chad LaVallee. Weeklong stay.
2023
- San Antonio, Texas — March 2023: $3,005.36 — Chad, Leslie and their child.
- Charleston, South Carolina — April 2023: $611.13 — Chad LaVallee.
- Hillsboro, Oregon — June 2023: $209.39 — Chad LaVallee. Overnight stay.
- Lincoln City, Oregon — June 2023: $287.50 — Chad LaVallee. Overnight stay at oceanfront resort.
- Eugene/Springfield, Oregon — June 2023: $137.86 — Chad LaVallee. Overnight stay.
- Dallas, Texas — July 2023: $510.90 — Chad LaVallee.
- Houston, Texas — September 2023: $1,465.44 — Chad LaVallee.
- Missouri and Louisiana — September 2023: $761.87 — Chad LaVallee. Separate travel expenses from the Houston trip.
- Charlotte, North Carolina — October/November 2023: $2,362.98 — Chad LaVallee.
- Denver, Colorado — November 2023: $949.01 — Chad LaVallee, Keegan Parvin and Ronald Reed. Reportedly associated with retrieving the first ladder truck.
- Las Vegas, Nevada — December 14th–15th, 2023: $2,550.78 — Chad LaVallee, Keegan Parvin and Ronald Reed. Overnight round-trip travel.
2024
- Beaufort, South Carolina/Savannah, Georgia — February 4th–9th, 2024: $2,213.48 — Chad LaVallee and Keegan Parvin.
- Nampa, Idaho — March 2024: $417.95 — Chad LaVallee. Hotel accommodations.
- Salt Lake City, Utah — March 2024: $693.91 — Reportedly associated with inspecting a replacement ladder truck.
- Salt Lake City, Utah — March/April 2024: $5,846.33 — Chad LaVallee, Keegan Parvin and Ronald Reed. Reportedly associated with retrieving the replacement ladder truck with one-way flights only, including $4,653.53 in towing expenses.
- Eugene/Springfield, Oregon — 2024: $202.33 — Chad LaVallee. Overnight stay.
- Las Vegas, Nevada — June 2024: $4,200.28 — Chad and Leslie LaVallee.
We do not yet have any credit card records for the last half of 2024 or for 2025 and 2026. We will update and share these records in future reporting once we obtain them.
View our full series of reporting on the Alfalfa Fire District by clicking here:
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Editor's Note: This reporter is currently engaged in active federal litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon against the Alfalfa Fire District and several current and former district officials, including Chad LaVallee, Mark Laucks, Keegan Parvin and Nathan Starr. The lawsuit asserts civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging First Amendment retaliation in response to constitutionally protected newsgathering activities, including attempts to have this reporter arrested. The district was enjoined through a tempoary and prelminary injunction from restriction access to public meetings. We do not intend to allow such conduct to stiffle our commitiment to reporting on local government and holding those in power to account in accordance with our journalistic ethics.
Mr. Alderman is an investigative journalist specializing in government transparency, non-profit accountability, consumer protection, and is a subject matter expert on Oregon’s public records and meetings laws. As a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer, he brings a disciplined investigative approach to his reporting that has frequently exposed ethics violations, financial mismanagement, and transparency failures by public officials and agencies.
