Graphic by Mike Wolanin | The Republic, background image Adobe Stock, chart by Indiana Gateway for Government Units The chart shows suspected credit card payments on the Columbus Township credit card during Ben Jackson’s tenure as Columbus Township Trustee from 2013-2024.
As the Indiana State Police and Bartholomew County authorities continue their criminal investigation into former Columbus Township Trustee Ben Jackson, one central question remains: How did Jackson allegedly conceal more than $1.12 million in personal expenses over nearly a decade?
The Indiana State Board of Accounts opened an investigation into eight years of Columbus Township’s credit card spending this past October after receiving an anonymous complaint alleging that Jackson had repeatedly purchased first-class airline tickets for himself, his wife and others.
When SBOA officials started reviewing Columbus Township’s credit card statements this past Oct. 29 at the township offices, 1333 Washington St., it was immediately “apparent that the credit card was being used for personal expenditures,” according to a special investigation report released last week.
The transaction that caught the officials’ eyes was the purchase of two airline tickets to Zurich, Switzerland, for Jackson and his wife earlier that year, the report states.
Just moments after Jackson had assured SBOA representatives that “there would not be any personal purchases” in the credit card statements, the officials asked him what the township purpose was for the trip to Switzerland.
Jackson’s response: “He felt it would be best if he didn’t say anything further without his attorney present.”
The turn of events this past October stands in stark contrast to the findings of a state audit of Columbus Township’s finances nearly 18 months earlier, which found “no reportable instances of noncompliance.”
In 2020, state auditors conducted a review — which is “substantially less in scope than an audit” — of Columbus Township’s finances. The review did not detect any questionable transactions. Neither did another audit conducted in 2017, that covered the initial years of Jackson’s tenure.
At the same time, the SBOA’s special investigation found that Jackson “was reporting the credit card expenditures in the annual financial report that was presented to the township board each year,” according to the report.
However, “there was no evidence that the township board questioned the credit card expenditures during the review of the annual report.”
Board members ‘shocked’
Currently, it is unclear exactly what financial information Jackson may have presented to the three-member board for its approval.
Michael Shireman, who has served on the Columbus Township Board since being elected in 2014, said he suspects Jackson was not providing accurate information for the board to review.
“We just reviewed the figures that were presented to us, and I think he had (the credit card expenditures) hidden,” Shireman said. “That’s about all I can say.”
Shireman said Jackson never provided credit card statements to the board, at least since he was first elected in 2014.
“That never happened,” Shireman said. “We never got the statements on the credit card. Ben kept that pretty secret.”
Former Columbus Township Board Member J. Stuart Cundiff, who was elected in 2018 and served one term, said he had no idea that Jackson even had a township credit card.
“I didn’t even know the office had a credit card,” Stuart said. “I didn’t know that he had a credit card. It just never came up. …We were there as an advisory board, not a supervisory board, the way I understood it.”
Other township board members referred questions from The Republic to current Columbus Township Trustee Kris Weisner, who said he was “not privy” to the records and discussions that Jackson and the board had regarding the township’s financial activity.
Weisner said the majority of the township’s financial records, board minutes and other documents during Jackson’s tenure are in the hands of Indiana State Police and the Indiana State Board of Accounts.
However, the annual reports are still accessible through the Indiana Gateway for Governmental Units, which is the online collection platform for local units of government to submit required data to the Indiana state government.
The Republic reviewed the township’s annual reports from 2013 — when Jackson was appointed trustee during a GOP caucus — to 2024, which show annual totals of disbursements by recipient from each of the township’s funds.
While the reports do not provide detailed, itemized lists of every financial transaction, they do show that payments to a recipient labeled as “3004 Cardmember Service” had been rising since Jackson took office but started to dramatically increase in 2019.
In 2019, Columbus Township reported $107,384 in payments to “3004 Cardmember Service,” up from $56,506 in 2018 and $4,669 during all of 2014, Jackson’s first full year in office.
That total jumped to $167,195 in 2020, $218,173 in 2021 and $205,354 in 2022, according to the reports.
In 2023, a recipient labeled as “3004 Elan Financial Services” started to appear in township records. Elan Financial Services is a division of U.S. Bank that offers an outsourced credit card program for banks and credit unions, according to U.S. Bank’s website.
Columbus Township reported $271,040 in disbursements to Elan Financial Services in 2023 and $233,935 in 2024.
The increase and totals for those two recipients largely coincide with figures in the SBOA report. However, that does not mean all of those transactions were necessarily credit card payments or for personal use. The SBOA investigation found that 9% of Jackson’s credit card use over the eight-year period — $121,093 — was for legitimate township business.
“No one was denied assistance due to misuse of funds from inside the office,” Weisner said. “…No services or monies were withheld from the public that needed those funds.”
Key moment
According to the SBOA, the key moment in Jackson’s alleged scheme came in October 2018.
When Indiana State Police and SBOA officials interviewed the township’s accounting clerk, Allen Smith, this past November, they learned that Jackson had assumed his duties of making the township’s credit card payments, according to the report.
Smith allegedly told investigators that had previously been in charge of making the township’s credit card payments from 2013 to mid-2018. During that time, Smith was provided with credit card statements and confirmed that statements had receipts to support the purchases.
Smith would then prepare the check in the accounting software system and print the check. After Jackson’s final approval, Smith would send the check to the credit card vendor.
However, Jackson allegedly told Smith around October 2018 that he wanted to start preparing the checks for credit card purchases. Smith told investigators that “he did not question Jackson at that time about why he wanted to pay the credit card expenditures, as Jackson was his boss.”
SBOA examined the township’s accounting software and found that “Jackson prepared every check in the accounting software system that was made out to the credit card vendor” starting in October 2018.
“Prior to August of 2018, the township had proper segregation of duties in paying the credit card expenditures,” according to the report. “Jackson provided all supporting receipts to the accounting clerk (Smith), and Smith reviewed the credit card statements. If there was not a supporting receipt for an expense on the statement, Smith made a notation documenting that he did not have a receipt for those items.”
Although investigators say Jackson made personal purchases on the credit card in 2017 and early 2018, he “wrote personal checks to the credit card company to cover the purchases that did not have support.”
However, things changed after Jackson took over preparing the checks for the credit card.
Of the 72 trips documented in the report, just one took place before Jackson started preparing the checks himself — $2,331 for a Disney Resort package and rental car expenses in March 2018. The month after Jackson started preparing the checks, he allegedly used the credit card for a $4,118 sportfishing trip to San Diego, California, for himself and his wife.
However, there could have been more trips, according to the report. There also could have been some more personal expenses, as state auditors classified $39,344 in credit card expenditures as questionable.
“The SBOA was able to attribute $498,945.95 of these expenses to specific trips,” the report states. “The remaining travel expenditures did not contain enough information to determine what trip they belonged to. …The expense category that was unable to be assigned to a specific trip was booking services (e.g., Travelocity, VRBO). These expenses did not include enough information on the credit card statements to determine what trip they belonged to. Additionally, many of the airline expenditures did not contain enough information to be able to confirm which flight and individual they belonged to.”
Jackson allegedly told investigators that “he would receive the credit card statements via mail, prepare the check and mail the check.” No other township employee would review the statement.
Jackson also allegedly acknowledged that “he rarely had supporting documentation for his purchases” and “would use random budget codes for credit card expenditures when writing checks to the credit card vendor.”
“After Jackson took over preparing the checks for the credit card bill, there was no segregation of duties over the credit card expenditures,” the report states. There was no longer an independent employee reviewing the purchases made by Jackson. This allowed Jackson to make personal purchases on the credit card without being detected.”
What now?
Officials said they expect to recover at least some of the $1 million that the SBOA has asked Jackson to repay.
The township had bond coverage in Jackson’s name for $60,000 per year, according to the report. However, that would not cover all of the money he has been asked to repay.
It is also unclear what assets Jackson may have that could be used to recover more of what he was alleged to have spent. Jackson is listed as one of four owners of the home he was known to reside in, which had an assessed value of $324,000, according to public real estate records.
His wife, Amy Jackson, who was also one of the four owners listed on the home, filed for divorce in Bartholomew Circuit Court this week and asked a judge for a financial restraining order, according to county and court records.
“Hopefully, we can recoup some of that money back up to $60,000 a year, which is my understanding,” Weisner said.
In the meantime, Weisner said the township has canceled the credit and debit card accounts that were issued during Jackson’s tenure.
However, the township has opened new debit and credit card accounts for Weisner, who has a $5,000 credit limit. Weisner said he does not know what Jackson’s credit limit was.
Weisner said the township has new guidelines on the use of credit and debit cards and that he has expanded the township’s internal controls “for more transparency” and “working hand-in-hand more frequently to go over financial reports.”
“A little bit more in depth than showing, ‘These are the numbers,’” Weisner said. “Here’s all expenditures, what those expenditures were for. As opposed to just a blanket, ‘OK, this is the amount on a credit card statement,’ it actually goes into detail showing what charges are being made and what those are for on the debit and/or credit cards.”
