Ex-Fairfield Trustee Taletha Coles pleads guilty to 4 counts of theft, more

Plea agreement culls indictment down from 42 counts, includes restitution of more than $44,000 and up to four years in jail.

Taletha Coles follows attorney Alex Dowers out of a Tippecanoe County courtroom Thursday morning. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Taletha Coles, who spent more than three years telling alarmed staffers and frustrated township board members that how she ran the Fairfield Township offices and spent township money was nobody’s business but hers, pleaded guilty Thursday morning to four counts of theft and official misconduct tied to her days as township trustee.

Coles, 54, said little during a half-hour plea hearing, pausing only to confer with her attorney, Alex Dowers, before saying, “Yes,” each time she was asked whether she was guilty on counts ranging from using a tax-exempt township credit card to buy things for herself to profiting from the sale of personal items to the township.