Noblesville changes cash policy after audit reveals parking ticket problems

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) – Changes are coming to the way Noblesville employees handle money after a recent audit showed hundreds in parking ticket fines went missing.

With the use of chalk, Noblesville employees keep people to the two-hour parking rules. What the city saves in meter maintenance was being lost another way.

An audit for the first two months of 2016 showed nearly a quarter of all tickets had issues.

“That is a large number to me because that’s a lot of money,” Noblesville resident Mary Early said.

In the January, February, and the first four days of March the audit shows 158 tickets weren’t submitted properly.

41 were under value, totaling $490. 43 weren’t entered, and 74 had been voided.

In April, prosecutors charged police civilian employee Brandon, also known as Brandi Marcum, with theft and official misconduct.

Prosecutors said tickets would be voided, and the cash would vanish.

Court documents show Marcum admitted to the crime, and she started stealing in 2014, and took $1,000.

“Obviously if the criminals were able to fool the system then something needed to be changed,” Early said.

24-Hour News 8 learned because of this the police department has changed the way it handles parking ticket money.

No longer is it just one person collecting envelopes, and entering what’s inside. It’s now a two person system which makes it harder for money to go missing.

“You really need to have accountability in all things, especially financial,” Westfield resident Tom Weaver said. “I mean I was in the service and we had two person integrity when you did missile launches for example. You don’t just let one person go rogue.”

While the chalk won’t go away, some are glad to see new ways to hold those accountable in case they get a parking ticket.

“That’s amazing that someone would do something like that,” Early said. “They must have been absolutely desperate for money to stoop so low.”

24-Hour News 8 also learned it’s not only parking tickets policies being changed. All city departments are changing the way they handle money by the end of the next month.

As for Marcum, she’s scheduled to be back in court later this month, with a trial scheduled for August.