Parking Enforcer Stole $4.3K In Meter Payments: Delco DA

UPPDER DARBY, PA — A parking enforcer in Delaware County has been accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of parking meter payments.

District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Sekela Coles, 45, of Upper Darby is charged with theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, and other related charges.

Coles' charges arise from her alleged diversion of funds collected from parking meters, the DA's office said.

In addition, Coles, who was Upper Darby's Director of Parking Enforcement, is alleged to have voided the parking violations of her family members.

The charges come on the heels of a months-long investigation conducted by Criminal Investigation Division Detective Robert Lythgoe and Detective Edward Rosen.

In February, Rosen interviewed two citizen informants.

They reported seeing Upper Darby Parking Enforcement (UDPE) Administrative Assistant Nakita Barnes take six of the Brinks Dunbar bags use for collecting coins from parking meters from the UDPE office and place them in her personal vehicle.

They further said they saw a receipt from the Police and Fire Federal Credit Union (PFFCU) for a deposit in the amount of $2,290 on Barnes' desk.

The receipt indicated that a deposit of coin in the amount of $2,290 had been converted to paper currency.

An envelope of cash in the amount of $1,730 was found on Barnes’ desk.

The standard procedure utilized by the UDPE at that time was to deposit funds collected from the meters at Santander Bank.

The informant then told Rosen that Coles gave staff directions to give all bags of coins collected to Barnes, which was not the UDPE’s standard procedure.

A second receipt in the amount of $581 from the PFFCU was also observed on Barnes’ desk.

A search warrant for the bank records of Barnes and her husband, Gregory Barnes, was obtained.

Rosen determined that Gregory Barnes had taken six bags of coins to PFFCU on January 14.

Digital images from the PFFCU branch utilized by Gregory Barnes and Nakita Barnes carrying Brinks Dunbar bags into the branch and converting the coins into paper currency.

Nakita Barnes was interviewed by Rosen and Lythgoe on April 28.

Then, she admitted that under the direction of Coles, she took coins to her personal bank, the PPFCU, and converted them into paper currency, the DA's office said.

She stated that she then took the money to the defendant who would count the money and Barnes would store the money in her desk.

Rosen and Lythgoe interviewed Coles on April 28.

Coles initially denied the allegations, the DA's office said.

She did, however, admit to using the funds from the parking meters for the purchase of food, birthday cakes, office parties, and restaurant trips for her and her staff, according to the DA's office.

She said that she chose to keep the funds as a "petty cash" fund for use by her office, the DA's office said.

Coles also acknowledged that when she became aware that in one instance the amount involved was over $2,000, she directed Barnes to transmit some of the money in smaller increments to the tax office so that it didn’t raise any suspicion, according to the DA's office.

A total of $4,314 has been identified as stolen, and $2,037.81 of that has been returned, the DA's office said.

In connection with an audit of the UDPE by Upper Darby Acting Director of Finance Donna Stillwell of Brinker Simpson, it was determined that at least eight parking violations issued to relatives of the defendant had been voided by Coles.

Coles was released on $75,000 unsecured bail and is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 21, court records show.