TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. — Taletha Coles was arrested at her home Thursday night for allegedly using a government credit card to spend money for personal purchases at places like Walmart and Rural King, as well as nail salons and massage parlors.
There is a 95-page indictment with 42 charges, 21 of them felonies against the former Fairfield Township trustee. The charges include fraud, perjury and theft. They date back to January 2019 when she first got into office.
Coles denies all of the charges against her. In a phone conversation with Coles, 13News asked if she had committed any of those crimes.
"No, I didn't," she said.
Coles said she was set up by her colleagues the day she got in office for being a Democrat.
"I've just been treated poorly in this position, and all I want to do is help my community," said Coles. "They even gave me felony charges and misdemeanor charges the day I walked into office in 2019. That doesn't make sense."
Coles said all of the spending she did was related to her job.
"They're saying that I took the card to go eat dinner and this and that when it was really, I took the sheriff to lunch to see if there was anything the township could do to assist the jail mates," said Coles. "I mean it was all work related. I didn't just take the card out and have a hay day and go have dinner."
We reached out to the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's Office for comment, but they did not get back to us.
Coles' jury trial is set to begin March 28, 2023.