Upper Darby parking enforcement director accused of stealing from meters

UPPER DARBY, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- The director of parking enforcement in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania is being accused of stealing coins from parking kiosks in order to financially benefit herself and her colleagues.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer outlined the case against 45-year-old Sekela Coles during a press conference Monday afternoon.

Stollsteimer said after a months-long investigation, Coles is facing several charges, including unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property and obstruction of justice.

Coles, a previous Upper Darby Township councilwoman, became the director of parking enforcement in January 2020.

The district attorney says in November 2021, Coles introduced new parking kiosks in Upper Darby. Just a month later, he says Coles directed her administrative assistant, Nikita Barnes, to take coins from those kiosks.

"Nikita was told to take the coins that come in from the kiosks, take them in bank bags to her own personal car. (She would then) drive them to her own personal bank, use the coin counter there to count the coins, deposit the money in Nikita's own personal bank account, and then bring the cash back to Sekela Coles," said Stollsteimer.

The district attorney says Coles then used the money for the benefit of herself and the people in her office, spending it on things like parties, free lunches and gifts.

Stollsteimer says Coles stole more than $4,000.

Upper Darby Township officials say her annual salary is $70,525.20.

According to Stollsteimer, Coles eventually admitted to the scheme when speaking with county detectives in April.

"She also admitted that at some point, she realized they were taking too much money, that it would potentially be discovered by people in the tax office," Stollsteimer said. "So, she had Ms. Barnes repay some of the money."

Stollsteimer calls that 'consciousness of guilt.'

"She knew what she was doing was wrong. She was afraid the scheme was going to be discovered," he said.

Coles' attorney Andrew Edelberg says his client's character is unfairly being called into question.

"There may have been some sloppy accounting, sloppy record-keeping, and perhaps a sloppy policy that when it was discovered was ceased," Edelberg explained. "And it's now turned into what the district attorney's made it to be some sort of transparent prosecution of funds."

In a statement, the Upper Darby mayor's office says it is fully cooperating with this investigation and working to ensure this does not happen again.

"The Township has already taken several steps to ensure stronger internal controls to immediately address this situation and alter our parking accounting procedures. We would like to assure the Upper Darby community that we take our fiduciary duties to the residents and taxpayers of Upper Darby seriously," said the statement.

Coles is also accused of voiding at least eight parking violations for her family members.