Judge tells ex-Fairfield Twp. Trustee Taletha Coles: Get a job
The convicted former Fairfield Township trustee was back in court Friday, telling a judge that background checks are keeping her out of work … and out of paying $40K+ in restitution.
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JUDGE TELLS FORMER FAIRFIELD TRUSTEE TALETHA COLES: GET A JOB
Taletha Coles, back in front of a judge to deal with court-ordered restitution from her 2024 sentencing, was told Friday morning she had two weeks to get a job and restart payments against the $43,380 set in a plea deal tied to a series of theft charges dating to her days as Fairfield Township trustee.
Then Judge Randy Williams gave Coles a warning after getting a heavy sigh from Coles as her status hearing wrapped up Friday morning in Tippecanoe Superior Court 1.
“Was that a sigh, as in you’re relieved this is over? Or was it a ‘HUHN?’” Williams asked. “Be careful, Ms. Coles.”
Coles walked out of the courtroom without comment.
Friday’s hearing followed a request she sent the court in January to temporarily stop a restitution payment plan laid out by the court in November 2024.
In a series of letters sent the court, starting in January and running through the first week of February, Coles informed Williams that she’d been laid off in late-December and had not been able to find suitable work since then. She wrote to Williams that her efforts to find work had been hampered by background checks and that she was “actively pursuing all available avenues” to find a good job.
In court Friday, Coles reiterated that, saying had a job offer, which was pending another background check.
“That’s where it falls apart,” Coles said.
The prosecutor’s office had asked for a hearing in November 2024, telling the judge that Coles had paid only $20 toward a $42,380 restitution agreement since she’d been released from community corrections on Aug. 6, 2024. She was sentenced in January 2024 on four counts of theft and fraud tied to her nearly four years as Fairfield Township trustee.
During her November court hearing, the judge set her up on a plan to pay $100 a week.
Her last $100 payment came Jan. 22, according to court records. At that point, Coles had paid $1,361 toward the restitution total.
Williams gave Coles credit for keeping the court up to date on her job search. The judge told Coles he was confident she could get work, pointing to signs painted in the windows of a Lafayette fast food restaurant advertising $15-an-hour positions. Coles balked at that option, telling Williams that she was looking for something more suitable.
“Is zero money coming in better than something coming in?” Williams asked Coles.
Williams gave Coles two weeks to find something. A follow-up court date hadn’t been listed in the court’s online system, as of Friday afternoon.
Coles, a Democrat elected as township trustee in 2018, was indicted in 2022 on more than 40 counts of theft, tax exemption fraud and official misconduct. She pleaded guilty in 2023 to four of those charges.
In January 2024, Coles was sentenced to 180 days in the Tippecanoe County Jail and another six months with Tippecanoe County Community Corrections, followed by three years with a mix of supervised and unsupervised probation. The four-year sentence also included restitution and 180 hours of community service. Her restitution agreement detailed a series of charges she made with township money and credit cards at home improvement stores, a consignment shop, massage and pedicure shops and for online business and motivational training subscriptions. (Here’s a breakdown of the restitution and the money Coles spent.)
Even with the guilty plea, pre-sentencing documents showed that Coles continued to contend she was the victim of sabotage by foes and former allies and bad information about what she could and couldn’t do with township money and property. Coles was indicted a month after she resigned rather than face the final step of a lengthy procedure by township and county officials to oust her from her position, after years of butting heads with township board members, employees and residents.
The charges came after a May 2022 raid on township offices, maintenance barns and Coles’ north end Lafayette home by Indiana State Police and a lengthy audit by the State Board of Accounts. During the raid of her home, police took garden tools, power tools, exercise equipment, yoga mats, a F-250 tailgate and more that belonged to the township. The State Board of Accounts audit report, delivered to Fairfield Township in late 2023, called out tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized spending, inappropriate sales of her own furniture and other property to the township and more than $84,000 in Indiana State Police and State Board of Accounts fees to conduct the audit.
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DINING DIVAS AND DUDES: SCOTT STREET PUB
Dining Divas and Dudes is a team that has been reporting and rating new restaurants, hidden gems, international fare and updated menus from old favorites for years now via Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette at homeofpurdue.com. Here at Based in Lafayette, we feature some of Dining Divas and Dudes’ latest finds.
Recently, they took in Scott Street Pub, across from Lafayette’s Columbian Park. Here’s a taste:
Some of you may remember the past lives of the Scott Street Pub, 1902 Scott St. For many moons, it served the people as Tom’s Parkside Deli. Once they abandoned ship, it transformed into Parkside Seafood and Oyster house for just a short span of time. A few years ago it found a new version of itself as the Scott Street Pub.
This place has maybe one of the best patios in town and allows dogs on Wednesdays throughout the patio permitting seasons. It’s easy to see the same faces upon entry as they have a small staff and a steady following of neighborhood regulars, but the captivating scent of the house cut meats smoking can lure anybody in! It’s basically a siren song, really.
Check the full Dining Divas and Dudes post/review here: Pint-Sized Perfection: Top Eats at Scott Street Pub
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Judge Brian: You are entitled to dignity, therefore----For the next three months work at least 20 hours a week at any job that pays at least $15 an hour. Document hour by hour how you spent another 20 hours per week seeking employment you deem a better fit. We will reconvene in three months, at which time you will confirm your restitution payments and where you will demonstrate with evidence your pursuit of preferable employment.
Two people afflicted with poor impulse control: one unwilling to flip burgers, the other crashing useful federal agencies to get money for his pointless suicide mission to Mars. The latter will cost Americans a million times more (literally, at minimum). Not excusing anything, but the balance of Lady Justice's scales seems off.