Upper Darby director of parking enforcement Sekela Coles faces felony theft charges
MEDIA, Pa. (CBS) -- Dr. Sekela Coles, the director of parking enforcement for Upper Darby Township and a former council member, is facing charges of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception and receiving stolen property, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Monday.
Stollsteimer said Coles allegedly directed an employee to take thousands in coins from new township parking kiosks and then to a Police and Fire Credit Union branch, where the coins were converted to cash.
RELATED: Sources: Analysis of Upper Darby Parking Department shows "incompetence" within government
"Almost from the moment they were implemented in November of 2021, she began a scheme to steal the coins in those machines," Stollsteimer said. "It would be used for her own personal benefit and the benefit of the employees in her office. For gifts, for parties, for free lunches for all those kinds of things."
"This is a political corruption case," he added.
CBS News Philadelphia first started looking into complaints about the Upper Darby Parking Enforcement Office last year.
Our investigation stretched all the way back to November as we uncovered more than 18,000 parking tickets that were never sent to district courts for processing and hearings.
Our first report aired on Jan. 31. It detailed concerns of people who got parking tickets and couldn't get a hearing in court. On Feb. 1 -- Upper Darby Township Council then ordered an audit of the parking office -- one day after our investigation aired.
The development comes after a continuing 8-month-long investigation by @CBSPhiladelphia concerning how records showed 18,000 tickets were diverted away from the local court system. https://t.co/K7Q5dJxt2r
— Joe Holden (@JoeHoldenCBS3) July 31, 2023
Stollsteimer said all 18,000 backlogged tickets were only sent off to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, or AOPC, after our investigation aired. Prosecutors confirm they then began looking into parking matters in Upper Darby.
Prosecutors say the township lost more than $1 million in revenue from the missing tickets, but allege parking staff members tried to file those old tickets with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts after our report aired in January.
"The administration after Mr. Holden's report and after township council issued an audit rushed to try to get all those back-dated files AOPC," Stollsteimer said.
Attorney Andrew Edelberg represents Coles and disagreed that his client committed any crime as it relates to the theft charges.
"This case is there may have been some sloppy accounting or sloppy recordkeeping and sloppy policy that when it was discovered, it was ceased," Edelberg said.
RELATED: Upper Darby Township council members press lawyer for parking tickets audit results
"We would like to assure the Upper Darby community that we take our fiduciary duties to the residents and taxpayers of Upper Darby seriously," a statement from Upper Darby Mayor Barbarann Keffer said. "Ms. Coles has been placed on administrative leave, pending the Township's investigation of this matter."
Coles will fight the charges
Township council will address the charges on Wednesday night.
Council member Andrew Hayman reached out to CBS Philadelphia with this comment: "While it's important to remember that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, the charges filed represent a serious betrayal of public trust and there must be accountability."