INDIANAPOLIS — A Muncie firefighter who says he has been “in hiding” since he became the focus of a cheating investigation in early 2023 has broken his silence in an effort to save his career.
Fire captain Troy Dulaney took the witness stand at a June 27 evidentiary hearing to dispute allegations that he coordinated a years-long cheating scheme that helped Muncie firefighters and EMTs pass their state and national certification exams.
The scheme, first exposed by 13News following an anonymous tip to 13 Investigates and state regulators, resulted in punishment for eight new EMTs at the Muncie Fire Department and the revocation of all Dulaney’s firefighting and EMT certifications – the harshest penalty available to state regulators – which effectively prohibits Dulaney from serving as a firefighter and EMT in Indiana.
The 10-hour hearing, which is equivalent to an informal trial and is part of the revocation appeal process, gave Dulaney an opportunity to refute the findings of state investigators, to present witnesses who spoke highly of his character and work ethic, and to introduce a possible motive for cheating allegations that Dulaney and his attorneys claim were fabricated by co-workers who did not like him.
But hours of testimony from state witnesses and from the embattled fire captain also elicited damaging information that appears to justify the state’s investigation and raises more questions about whether Muncie Fire Department leaders chose to ignore tips about internal cheating, instead hoping the problem would simply go away.
“The firefighter death penalty”
13News and the Indiana Department of Homeland Security received packets of information in March 2023, alleging that Dulaney had been helping Muncie firefighters and EMTs cheat on their certification exams for several years. The packet contained photocopies of text messages and emails that Dulaney allegedly sent to students while he helped them study for their national EMT certification exam in early 2023. Those texts and emails contained what Dulaney allegedly claimed to be actual test questions he had collected from prior students who took the test.
The packet of photocopied texts also included a message MFD students studying for their national EMT test said they received in January 2023 – allegedly from Dulaney’s personal phone number. The text read: “Do not tell anyone I shared with you. You will see more questions under certain students names. The more you KNOW the material, the better recall you will have afterwards to remember questions.” [sic]
13 Investigates also obtained another message that Dulaney allegedly sent to the students a month later, just hours before they took the EMT exam. It said, “You guys owe me. At some point after testing, text me individually any you can recall. Only text me question with verified answer. I ask you to text me individually because I want to see how much you are willing to invest back in to me. Be safe and you will kill it tomorrow. Think positive.” [sic]
Rules established by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT), the private body that creates and administers the national EMT and paramedic certification exams adopted by the state of Indiana, prohibit students from disclosing or discussing with anyone, including instructors, information about exam questions or answers seen on the EMT test. The rules also prohibit students from reconstructing exam items based on their memory or the memory of others. Students must agree to those rules prior to starting their exams.
The packet of information shared with 13News, state investigators and NREMT stated that Dulaney had violated those rules, helping new EMT recruits cheat on their national exam. Several whistleblowers who spoke with 13 Investigates on the condition of anonymity also told 13News that they had personally observed Dulaney share actual test questions and answers with students prior to some of their state firefighter certification exams.
Following investigations conducted by 13News, NREMT, the Indiana State Fire Marshal and the state EMT director, the state punished eight Muncie EMT recruits who said they received text messages with exam questions and answers from Dulaney. For failing to report the violation of test rules, they each received a fine, two years of probation and nullification of their EMT exam results. The new Muncie firefighters were all forced to retake the national EMT exam in order to maintain their certifications to work on an ambulance.
Dulaney’s punishment was far more severe.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security revoked all of Dulaney’s EMT certifications for seven years. The Indiana Board of Firefighting Personnel Standards and Education followed by voting to permanently revoke Dulaney’s firefighting certifications. Both punishments were the harshest possible under state law, and the revocation orders effectively end Dulaney’s 20-year career in the fire and EMT service.
“It’s equivalent to the firefighter death penalty,” one IBFPSE member told 13News following the vote. “If you don’t have any certifications, you’re going to have a hard time finding employment in the [fire] service.”
Last summer, within weeks of the state orders, Dulaney hired an attorney and notified the state he was appealing the revocations, kicking off a lengthy appeals process.
The first step in that process is an evidentiary hearing conducted before an administrative law judge. Dulaney’s hearing happened last week, and it created a tense showdown between EMS professionals who believe Dulaney should be promoted to a top position within the Muncie Fire Department and those who think he should never serve again as a first responder in Indiana.
“Used his position to overpower us”
Dulaney’s evidentiary hearing brought the longtime firefighter and his attorneys to a small hearing room inside the Indiana Government Center in downtown Indianapolis, where Dulaney publicly shared his side of the story for the first time.
It also meant he would come face-to-face with some of his accusers and the Muncie firefighters who were punished because of his alleged conduct – the first time Dulaney has seen those colleagues since the captain was placed on paid administrative leave in the aftermath of the cheating scandal.
One after another, those recruits were called to testify against Dulaney.
Six recruits recalled how Dulaney asked them to text him their cell phone numbers. They all testified that Dulaney then texted them questions and answers from NREMT exams - unsolicited - that the fire captain claimed came directly from students who had already taken the tests.
“Who sent these text messages?” asked Indiana Department of Homeland Security (IDHS) deputy general counsel Hillary Egan during the hearing, referencing pages of photocopied text messages entered as state exhibits.
“It was Troy Dulaney,” responded Dylan Altman, one of the students who participated in Dulaney’s exam study sessions in early 2023.
The recruits all testified they got another text message from Troy Dulaney just a few hours before taking their EMT exam, instructing the students to text Dulaney after the test with all the test questions and answers they could remember.
“He asked if we could remember as many questions as we could and to return them after the test was completed,” testified James Main, another Muncie EMT recruit who studied with Dulaney.
“We were to remember test answers and questions to the best of our ability and bring them back and send him a text privately with those test answers and questions,” echoed EMT recruit Matthew Reese during his testimony.
The recruits said Dulaney devoted many hours to help them learn the test material and prepare for their EMT exam. But asked to share their feelings about Dulaney’s text messages, the recruits expressed disappointment and said they believed Dulaney abused his position of authority.
“I felt kind of taken advantage of. Put a bad taste in my mouth right away,” Altman testified. “I understand as a low guy, you listen to the senior guy, and you don’t cause waves.”
“I was pissed off because people were questioning my integrity,” Reese told the administrative law judge. “I don’t cheat my way through life, and I certainly did not cheat on this test. We did receive those test answers and questions, but I did not go home and study all that stuff. I went and studied hard in the book and took knowledge from the class. That’s I how I passed the test.”
Dulaney’s attorneys asked the recruits during cross-examination whether the fire captain made any threats if they failed to provide test questions after the exam. The new EMTs all said Dulaney did not make direct threats, only implicit requests.
“He was a captain. I was in the military for seven years, and you follow your leader’s orders,” Kaitlyn Hall said during her testimony.
“You feel obligated to do it,” added James Main, another member of the 2023 EMT test recruit class who was called to the witness stand. “Seemed like he used his position in the fire department to overpower us, and we didn’t want to disobey someone who was a captain. So we felt obligated after being told ‘we owed him’ that we had to return questions to him.”
The recruits testified they were well aware that NREMT rules strictly prohibit the sharing of test questions following the exam – even with instructors.
Egan characterized the cheating as “a pattern that dates back years.” She called other Muncie firefighters to the witness stand who said Dulaney offered them questions and answers for various firefighter certification exams in 2021 and 2022.
“There is pattern of behavior, and the pattern is a quid pro quo: I will provide you with test questions and, in return, will you give me fresh test questions so I can continue to build that [test question] bank?” said Zach Matthews, a section chief with the IDHS Office of the State Fire Marshal who served as a lead investigator on the Muncie exam cheating case. “It jeopardizes the entire testing system.”
Dulaney takes the stand in his own defense
The state’s most important witness was its last: Troy Dulaney.
Egan wasted no time in asking the captain questions that drive to very core of his alleged misconduct, and Dulaney responded with answers that support some key findings of the state’s investigation.
“Did you tell these students to report back to you after the exam with questions?” the state’s attorney asked.
“I did. Yes,” Dulaney replied.
Under oath, Dulaney acknowledged he did tell students to send him test questions, but he testified he did not realize he was breaking any rules.
“No, I wasn't aware,” said the firefighter, who later testified that he would not have continued asking students for test questions if someone had simply told him that it was prohibited behavior.
“I’m a military man. If you tell me one time I would absolutely stop,” he said. “You don’t have to revoke all my certificates. If you just put my boots on carpet and said, ‘Stop, enough,’ I absolutely would have stopped. I didn’t have anything to gain in this whatsoever.”
Dulaney also admitted to telling his students they “owed him” the test questions – questions the new recruits were required to keep secret.
Asked to explain what he meant when he texted “You guys owe me,” he offered this explanation:
“You owe the team to pay back forward and give back some of the time. Wanted to make sure they were clear that it's not one and done, don't pass the National Registry [exam] and just wash your hands of it. See if you can give back to future recruits also,” Dulaney said.
Dulaney did push back on several of the state’s key findings, which he insisted are untrue.
He said the dozens of questions he texted students before their exams came from study guides and test preparation books – not from the test questions he harvested from students.
Contrary to state findings, Dulaney said he did not take photographs of exam questions from computer screens during tests and share them with students, nor did he share test answers with students as he proctored a state firefighting exam.
And he said a text message to students that instructed them “Do not tell anyone I shared [questions and answers] with you” did not come from him.
“I know for a fact I did not send that to the Muncie fire recruits,” he testified.
But the man at the center of the exam cheating controversy was less certain when asked about another finding that led state regulators to revoke his certifications.
Dulaney attorney Chris Jeter asked his client why he included the names of some of his former students with some of the questions and answers he allegedly texted to recruits.
For example, Dulaney is accused of sending a text to his students on January 24, 2023, that included multiple test questions, along with a message that reads: “I wanted to help you with your anxiety, so below is a few more ACTUAL NREMT questions you will have. These aren’t NREMT like, these are questions [Name of specific prior student] had two months ago…”
Dulaney told his attorney, “I don't know why I done that, but I just threw a name for validation. I just left it as a placebo because I wanted them to hit hard those areas … It was just a motivational tactic that fell way short.”
“What this case comes down to is a couple of text messages that have wording in them that when you pull them out and read them, it doesn’t sound great,” Jeter told administrative law judge Carrie Ingram. “But when you look at them in the context of this whole operation, you’ll see they’re taken out of context.”
Sabotaged by “underachievers”
Dulaney also had others testify on his behalf, including several current and former co-workers who spoke about Dulaney's work ethic and character.
“Captain Dulaney is the best at what he does,” said retired MFD battalion chief James Clevenger. “This man would risk his life to save mine. He’d risk his life to save yours.”
Current MFD battalion chief Scott Hahn described Dulaney as a prepared and dedicated employee who arrives at the firehouse at 5:30 am to clean a fire truck before others are awake.
MFD firefighter and union president Jason Chaffin called Dulaney a “go-getter” with a “commanding personality,” while MFD Lt. Christopher Deeds testified, “I have not seen an officer more dedicated to the advancement of our personnel” than Troy Dulaney.
None of them seemed to share the state's concern that Dulaney told new recruits to send him actual test questions after their exams.
“Is it the most ethical thing? Probably not. But does it happen? Yes,” said Hahn. “I think it’s human nature to talk about, ‘Hey, how did you do on that [test]?’”
“We all want to be rule followers … but I also want to tell you, I cannot condemn him,” Clevenger testified, stating that “I did the same thing” when he helped prepare students for their certification exams.
Chafin said he believes students cannot cheat on their EMT exams – even if they are provided some of the test questions ahead of time – because the questions are constantly changing and the online test is designed to adapt to each students’ strengths and weaknesses.
“I believe there is absolutely no way you could cheat on that test,” echoed Muncie Fire Department EMS chief Wes Miller, who also testified in support of Dulaney.
Some of Dulaney’s supporters also testified that the cheating allegations were a politically-motivated, well-planned attack against a hardworking fire captain by co-workers who did not want Dulaney to be promoted to the rank of battalion chief.
Chafin, the MFD union chief, said the cheating allegations involving Dulaney were first presented to fire department administrators in early February, but they were not sent to 13News and state regulators until March 10 – one day after the Muncie Fire Department Merit Board voted to accept a new promotions schedule that elevated Dulaney to the top candidate for what was then a soon-to-be vacant position as chief of the second battalion.
“They’re scared to death of Troy,” Clevenger said of firefighters who work on the MFD’s second battalion, where Dulaney could be next in line to become battalion chief if his career is not cut short by the cheating allegations. “I don’t personally believe this hearing has anything to do with those poor recruits or test questions … I think it’s simply a case of underachievers doing everything possible to keep up with the overachievers.”
“Capt. Dulaney represents a change in culture,” echoed Deeds, who said Dulaney’s intense and demanding style is a threat to lazy and apathetic staff members who currently work on the second battalion. “His true crime is that he was trying to change the culture.”
“This whole thing has never been about EMTs and training EMTs. It's always been about people who didn't want to work for Capt. Dulaney,” agreed Hahn, who serves as chief of a different battalion. Asked to explain why MFD staff on the second battalion levied cheating allegations against Dulaney, Hahn responded, “Substandard employees don’t like overachievers and overachievers don’t like underachievers,” adding that he thinks second battalion MFD workers might be “jealous and want to maintain a status quo of ‘Hey, we don’t want to do any more’ than they have to.”
But the same people who sung Dulaney’s praises also admitted that the captain’s style and personality can be a liability.
“I had to get ahold of him and slow him down for not overtraining,” Clevenger said, referring to Dulaney as “a task master” that some students fear because of his intensity.
Hahn, Dulaney’s direct supervisor, testified that he at times he needed to “reign back” the captain, who can be “over the top.”
The comments seemed consistent with the state’s characterization that Dulaney could be both a dedicated and motivated instructor and, at the same time, someone who simply went too far by crossing ethical boundaries while helping students prepare for their exams.
Cheating evidence disappeared
More than ten hours of testimony also raised questions about how city and fire department leaders responded to the cheating allegations.
Whistleblowers who met with 13 Investigates in spring 2023 said they shared the packet of evidence with 13 Investigates and state investigators because of a perception that the same evidence was not taken seriously by MFD administrators.
“They’ve been informed multiple times. They’ve had proof of this going on, and it seems that it’s always just ignored,” one of the whistleblowers told 13News in April 2023.
Former Muncie Fire Chief Robert Mead met with 13 Investigates that same month to acknowledge that the NREMT and IDHS were investigating claims of cheating within his department. At that time, Mead said he had learned of the allegations just a few weeks earlier and that his department was investigating as well.
“We are looking at all of the allegations,” Mead said. “I hope that the allegations come back as unfounded, that we’re exonerated from this. But if it goes the other way, we’ll deal with it as whatever the outcome is.”
Later in that same interview, the fire chief indicated he was awaiting results from the state and national investigations before deciding what action, if any, was necessary. When 13 Investigates again asked whether MFD was conducting its own investigation or simply relying on other agencies to investigate the claims, Mead said his department was indeed conducting an investigation of its own.
“It is pressing forward still,” he said, adding that the results of the investigation should be available “within a few weeks.”
But more than a year later, the Muncie Fire Department has shared no investigation report with 13News. 13 Investigates has repeatedly asked for a copy of the department’s own investigation report and findings, but none has been provided.
Testimony at last week’s hearing could explain why.
Chafin testified that Mead first received the packet of evidence suggesting that exam cheating was taking place inside the fire department on February 9, 2023 – nearly two months before 13News spoke with the Muncie fire chief. The MFD union chief said both he and the chief knew exactly which firefighter submitted the packet.
Hahn said soon after Mead received the evidence, the chief met with him privately to show him the allegations and evidence against Dulaney.
“I looked through it, and I didn’t see anything in there that made me go, ‘Oh my God, this is horrible,’” Hahn testified, adding that the chief said the packet was submitted anonymously.
“I told him, ‘You know what I do with anonymous complaints is usually just chuck ‘em in the trash,” Hahn said.
The MFD battalion chief said the packet then “disappeared.”
“I asked the chief, ‘Where are we going with this?’ He said, ‘I don’t know,’” Hahn testified. “He never asked me to intervene with Troy at any point.”
He said the fire chief was under pressure from other city leaders once the cheating allegations resulted in negative headlines for the city of Muncie.
“I think he basically wanted it to go away. They mayor was talking to him and pushing him in a direction to -- this is a black eye for everybody and -- just try to make it go away,” Hahn testified.
Mead retired and resigned as Muncie fire chief last year after less than two years in the position.
Despite the former chief’s statements that MFD was conducting its own investigation, it is not clear whether Muncie fire officials actually investigated those allegations at all.
Asked if there is any evidence to suggest the Muncie Fire Department or city of Muncie conducted its own thorough investigation, Dulaney’s attorney acknowledged last year that there was little proof.
“No, I don’t have any indication of that,” Jeter told 13News in the fall.
The Muncie Fire Merit Commission said the same thing.
“I’ve asked on several occasions if the fire department conducted an investigation into this, and we’ve never gotten a square answer on that,” commission president Andrew Dale told 13News last September. “There is no indication that the department has done an investigation. What truly happened once the information was presented to the department is important to find out because it’s a question of integrity … My personal opinion is: because it was not addressed early, because there was a lag and lack of response, that’s what led to the information being sent to the National Registry and the media.”
New Muncie fire chief Daniel Burford said his department is looking for closure following last week’s hearing, which created staffing challenges for the department since so many MFD employees were subpoenaed to testify.
Burford attended all ten hours of the hearing, but was not allowed to watch any of the proceedings because he was notified he might be called as a witness. He was not called on to give testimony, so the chief spent the entire day waiting outside the hearing room with other MFD staff.
What happens next
During a short recess in the hearing, Dulaney spoke with 13News to share the impact of the allegations.
“It’s ruined my life,” he said, explaining that he only leaves the house to go grocery shopping before sunrise in another county to avoid having to run into other people.
He said he has been looking forward to the evidentiary hearing to finally share his side of the story. Dulaney hopes the administrative law judge will issue a finding that he did not violate state rules and recommend his professional certifications be reinstated.
His ultimate goal: returning to work at the Muncie Fire Department.
“I'm fighting to get back to it because I feel there's more to do,” Dulaney told the judge. “I have my time. I could retire … I don't want that because I want to be impactful. I want to feel impactful in my community.”
The city of Muncie has not yet taken any disciplinary action against Dulaney, who has been on paid administrative leave for more than a year pending the outcome of his appeal.
Administrative law judge Carrie Ingram has until late September to issue a Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and an order based on the evidence presented during the hearing.
Those findings and conclusions will be sent to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and Indiana Board of Firefighting Personnel Standards and Education for them to issue Final Orders that either affirm, modify or dissolve the ALJ’s recommended order. It means the state bodies will consider whether to uphold Dulaney’s revocations, modify the punishment or vacate it.
Ingram’s findings and recommendations are not binding. If Dulaney is not satisfied with the final decisions issued by IDHS and IBFPS, he can then request a judicial review by another judge.