TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. — A former Fairfield Township trustee will serve 180 days in jail after taking a plea deal.
As part of the deal, Taletha Coles admitted to tax exemption fraud, conflict of interest and official misconduct. She was sentenced Monday, Jan. 22 in Tippecanoe County.
13News first spoke with Coles in November 2022 when she faced more than 40 charges, accused of using a work-issued credit card for her own spending. She told us all the spending was legitimate at the time.
"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," Coles said at the time. "I mean, it was all work-related. I didn't just take the card out and have a heyday and go have dinner."
In addition to time in the county jail, Coles will spend 180 days in community corrections and three years on probation. The judge also ordered her to pay back more than $42,000.