Noblesville PD civilian employee arrested for theft, misconduct
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) – A Noblesville police civilian employee was arrested on preliminary charges of theft and official misconduct.
According to police, they opened an internal investigation on March 21.
The investigation was opened “as a result of a routine audit of records.”
They determined the focus of the investigation was the employee taking parking ticket fines. The audit revealed an excessive amount of parking tickets had been voided.
After the investigation, investigators were granted two warrants for the arrest of Brandon “Brandi” Marcum. Between March 21 and April 5, court records show 38 tickets were recovered from Marcum’s trashcan that had been either voided, not entered or still showing unpaid.
“Employees of the city are trusted by the taxpayers that they serve, and for them to take taxpayers money is a serious allegation,” Hamilton County Supervising Deputy Attorney Amy Summerfield said.
Officers also took parking violations off vehicles and stuffed the envelopes with cash. Those tickets, they said, were later voided by Marcum and the money went missing.
Marcum surrendered to authorities on April 14. Court records show she admitted to the crime and said she started to take parking money in late 2014, totaling $1,000.
The news upset people who were paying tickets Thursday.
“It’s not right,” Christy Sullivan said. “It’s just not right.”
“People you trust, you think, are in office, working for the government, you hope,” Dave Sullivan said.
Marcum had been a civilian employee with the department since 1997. Her employment was terminated following the investigation.
“Not only will we seek appropriate justice, if she is convicted of those crimes, which at this point are only allegations, but we will also seek restitution on behalf of the city,” Summerfield said.
The Mayor of Noblesville, John Ditslear commented on the investigation.
“I was shocked to learn of the misconduct committed by a former civilian employee. I want to thank the Noblesville Police Department for their work,” Ditslear said. “After discovering this misconduct through a routine internal audit, it was their quick action and investigation that led to the employee’s termination and arrest. When Noblesville became designated as a Second Class City, the controller’s office began the process of auditing all municipal finances and procedures involving cash transactions. As part of their findings, the city is reviewing and implementing new safeguards with regards to the handling of money to prevent such misconduct in the future.”
The investigation is still ongoing.
