{"id":35605,"date":"2026-04-21T20:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/?p=35605"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:26:10","slug":"former-parks-employees-took-over-20k-according-to-recent-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/former-parks-employees-took-over-20k-according-to-recent-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Parks Employees Took Over $20K, According to Recent Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Former Parks Employees Took Over $20K, According to Recent Investigation\n\n<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/h2><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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4.21.2026 \/ News \/ Daisy Dale<\/a><\/u><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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MUNCIE, Ind. \u2014<\/span> After a recent announcement that a State Board of Accounts (SBOA) investigation had finished, a report<\/span> <\/a>was made public on Tuesday, April 21. <\/span>The investigation covered the years of 2020 to 2024 and revealed that a total of $21,471.10 was taken by former city employees George Foley and Nikki Eckerson.<\/span><\/p>\n

The investigation was first acknowledged by Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour in October 2022, when <\/span>Foley and Eckerson were briefly <\/span>placed on paid leave<\/span><\/a> when the investigation started. <\/span>It was followed a year later with a <\/span>report by<\/span> <\/span>The Star Press<\/span><\/a> <\/span>that a lack of internal controls in record keeping was cited in a 2022 state audit of the City of Muncie. Though Ridenour called the report an improvement of years prior.<\/span><\/p>\n

Foley served as program director before his firing in late 2024. One instance from the report involved <\/span>Foley cashing a $2,000 check that was supposed to be a reimbursement to the Delaware County Juvenile Court. The SBOA could not validate that the check was deposited to the city. <\/span>On December 20, 2024, in a meeting between Foley, City Controller Craig Wright and Deputy Controller Matt Wagley, Foley denied he deposited it in his own bank account and held that it was deposited to a city account. He was put on administrative leave at the same meeting.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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According to the report: “The total amount of checks that Foley collected but did not deposit to any City bank accounts for the JDAI Sponsored Parks Department Summer Youth Mentor and Internship Program ($2,000) and the JDAI sponsored swimming and concessions ($6,975) totaled $8,975.”<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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From SBOA special investigation released publicly April 21<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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In another instance, Foley rented city equipment to Yorktown’s Chamber of Commerce, and in<\/span>\u00a0an invoice given to the entity a note was given stating “make all checks payable to Tailored Technology.” The report identifies Foley as the owner of Tailored Technology.<\/span><\/p>

Eckerson, former secretary for the Parks department who was fired this month, took cash payments for cabin and shelter rentals that were then entered in city software with zero fees.\u00a0<\/span>Eckerson is now requested to reimburse the City of Muncie $6,496.10 from a check that wasn’t deposited. Foley and Eckerson combined have to pay not only\u00a0<\/span>$21,471.10 for collections not deposited, but a grand total of $42,924.27 including costs for the special investigation.\u00a0<\/span>It is currently unknown whether criminal charges have been filed against the two.<\/span><\/p>

The end of the report wrongfully identifies Dale Basham as President of Muncie City Council, who was included in an exit conference for the report instead of Jeff Green, the current president of council. A similar incident happened for a 2022 state audit when then-councilor Aaron Clark was invited to an exit meeting instead of Jeff Robinson, then-president at the time.<\/span><\/p>

Following the investigation, Mayor Ridenour told WTHR<\/span><\/a> in an interview that “from the moment concerns were identified, we acted swiftly and responsibly.”\u00a0<\/span>City Controller Craig Wright sent out an email to the SBOA following the investigation and a week prior to a press release by the City of Muncie. Wright’s email reads:<\/span><\/p>

“Immediately following the exit conference with the State Board of Accounts involving the findings from the investigation involving Nikki Eckerson and George Foley, the City suspended Ms. Eckerson without pay, pending termination. Mr. Foley had been relieved of duties in December of 2024. The City has implemented a new payment system into the Parks with a credit card system that is currently used in another department. We are in discussions with our IT department updating the Cabin Tracking System which is in need of an updated version. The City takes the use of public funds extremely serious and will always ensure they are used within the public trust.”<\/span><\/p>

The news also comes after an announcement in February from Parks Superintendent Carl Malone that his department would be low on funding for summer programs, and that grants and sponsors were being sought. Members of the Muncie Parks Board had met with Ball Foundation to find potential funding, however it’s unknown whether funding will come to fruition.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Former Parks Employees Took Over $20K, According to Recent Investigation 4.21.2026 \/ News \/ Daisy Dale MUNCIE, Ind. \u2014 After a recent announcement that a State Board of Accounts (SBOA) investigation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35605"}],"version-history":[{"count":110,"href":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35874,"href":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35605\/revisions\/35874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munciepostdemocrat.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}