MARION — A Grant County commissioner has been accused of dozens of allegations of intimidation, illegal surveillance, wiretapping, financial misconduct, bribery, nepotism, electioneering and abuse of power.
Citizens packed a courthouse meeting room on Thursday as details from a 30-page internal investigation into Commissioner Chuck Poling were shared with the public.
The special meeting was called at the conclusion of an investigation that started the last week of July 2026 and involved interviews and statements from 15 county employees.
During the meeting, Poling abstained from a vote to make the meeting video and investigation report available to the public “because it’s about me.”
See the full report
The first-term Republican was elected commissioner in 2024. As a lawyer detailed county employee complaints going back several years, Poling, a former county councilman and local plumber, sat in the room chewing gum.
According to the report, Poling had made multiple employees feel uncomfortable by invading their personal space — sometimes whispering in their ears and other times yelling at them up close.
In some instances, the report says allegations are supported by video surveillance.
He’s also accused of taking advantage of his position as chairman of the drainage board to have the county pay his personal plumbing and drainage business for projects that were sometimes worked on by county employees.
At the end of the meeting, commissioners Ron Stewart and Chris Oliver, also Republicans, voted to strip Poling of his authority over county departments.
The vote approved taking measures to protect workers’ privacy, including disabling the audio on county building surveillance cameras. Among the allegations against Poling is that he watched and listened to hundreds of hours of footage from the county office cameras for “surveilling and stalking employees, rather than for public safety or building security.”
The motion, which Poling voted against, said he “will not threaten, intimidate, retaliate against, harass … any witness who made statements or contributed to this internal investigative report.”
The investigation results are being sent to state and federal agencies, including the FBI, the Indiana State Police and State Board of Accounts.
The report says Ed Ormsby, a consulting attorney on the case, called Poling on Aug. 23 to get his response to the employee accusations. During the 14-minute conversation, he reported that Poling “consistently cursed, yelled, and cut-off Mr. Ormsby, said he knew who the witnesses were, said that they would all be gone, said to get ready for Hell, and then hung up.”
“Abusing people is not OK. Breaking the law is not OK,” Ormsby said. “Taking advantage of the county is not OK. This is not about politics. It’s about accountability and public integrity.”
The Grant County commissioners’ office confirmed Sept. 3 that Poling is still a member of the board of commissioners and the county drainage board. He didn’t respond to an email seeking a comment about the allegations.
The next commissioners meeting is at 10 a.m. Sept. 8, with a closed session before that to discuss legal matters.
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FPI News reporter Laura Lane covers the people and issues of rural Indiana. Reach her at 812-760-1540 or laura.lane@fpinews.org.
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