Upper Darby parking director charged with theft of over $4,000 in coins from parking kiosks

Upper Darby’s top parking enforcement official stole more than $4,000 in parking coins and used the money for personal benefit, authorities said, while at the same time allowing more than 18,000 tickets to go unaccounted for in what Delaware County officials called “complete and utter incompetency.”

Sekela Tamika Coles, 45, of Upper Darby, was charged Monday with three counts of felony theft, receiving stolen property, and related crimes.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said during a news conference that Coles admitted to investigators that she used her official position to benefit herself and her family by stealing coins from newly installed parking kiosks throughout the township, and spending the money on dinners, parties, and personal gifts.

Those kiosks, which Stollsteimer said offer easier access to coins during collection than the older meters, allowed Coles to enlist her assistant to deposit the funds at her personal bank instead of Upper Darby’s.

In addition to the thefts, Coles is accused of allowing the parking enforcement system in the township to languish for more than two years by failing to send 18,000 parking tickets through to Pennsylvania’s court system — mismanagement that officials said cost the township about $1 million in revenue.

She also admitted to deleting multiple tickets issued to her children and ex-husband from Upper Darby’s computer systems, Stollsteimer said.

Coles, who became parking enforcement director in January 2020 after serving on Upper Darby’s council for six years, has been placed on administrative leave and was expected to turn herself in to Delaware County authorities later on Monday.

Coles is described on Upper Darby’s website as someone who transformed the parking enforcement office within a year of taking the position. With thousands of parking meters and eight public parking lots, Coles “modernized” the system by moving the department toward app-based parking and online ticket payments, the website said.

But around a year into her tenure was also the point when tickets first began to go unprocessed, authorities said. From April of 2021 to February 2023, not a single ticket was sent to the township’s district courts, where offenders can either pay or protest their fines.

And it was those parking kiosks that allowed Coles to steal coins, Stollsteimer said. To remove coins from older meters, he said, a vacuum-like system ejected them straight into a case that was brought to the township tax office and taken to the bank by a Brinks truck.

But the kiosks installed under Coles have no such system. The director, Stollsteimer said, exploited this by enlisting her personal assistant to take the coins to Coles’ bank and convert the coins to cash.

It was only when more kiosks came online that Coles became nervous that the thefts would be detected, Stollsteimer said. She then instructed her assistant to send around $2,000 back to the township tax office in incremental payments to cover the losses.

“She was afraid this scheme was going to be discovered,” the D.A. said of Coles.

No charges will be filed against Coles’ assistant, who is cooperating in the investigation he said.

Complaints from Upper Darby council members and residents who sought to protest their parking tickets led council to launch an audit, which was completed in February and prompted the District Attorney’s Office to launch a criminal investigation.

While some of the unprocessed tickets were paid immediately by offenders, others who waited to contest their tickets “got away scot free” and never received mail notice, Stollsteimer said. The courts have just 30 days to prosecute a ticket, he added.

“There is going to be a revenue loss for Upper Darby,” he said.

Upper Darby Council President Brian Burke called the revelations “disturbing” and an affront to the taxpayers of Upper Darby. In addition to the revenue loss from unprocessed tickets, he said, the township had been paying for a ticketing processing service even though no tickets were being filed.

During her time as an Upper Darby council member, Coles served on committees including public safety and environmental affairs. She is from West Philadelphia and holds degrees from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania State University, and Walden University, according to Upper Darby’s website.