Ex-Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler leaves West Virginia prison after 5 months in theft case

Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press
·2 min read
Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler speaks to members of the community and other officials during his State of the City Address on April 16, 2019 at the Horizon Convention Center.
Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler speaks to members of the community and other officials during his State of the City Address on April 16, 2019 at the Horizon Convention Center.

MUNCIE, Ind. — After more than five months, former Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler's stay in a federal prison is over.

Tyler was released in recent days from the Morgantown Federal Correctional Institution in West Virginia.

The 79-year-old former mayor — given a one-year sentence by U.S. District Court Judge James Sweeney II in November — had been in the prison since late December.

Tyler, the city's mayor from 2012 through 2019, had pleaded guilty to theft of government funds. At his sentencing hearing, federal prosecutors said Tyler in December 2015 had accepted a $5,000 payment — delivered by a Muncie Sanitary District official  — from a contractor who had been awarded city projects.

A website operated by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons reports Tyler's sentence runs through Oct. 14. It also indicates he is now under the supervision of a "residential re-entry management field office" in St. Louis, Missouri.

More: Delaware County jail inmate charged over threat to shoot circuit court judges

While it does not specify whether Tyler has returned to his Muncie residence — or whether he might now be on home detention — the website does note the "RRM field offices" nationwide oversee 14,320 "federal offenders," more than 6,200 of whom are assigned to "home confinement."

An online posting on Monday prompted some local residents to believe the former mayor had returned to his family.

Muncie government employees, contractors faced charges in investigation

Tyler is one of nine people — among them government employees and local contractors — to face criminal charges as a result a years-long federal investigation of corruption in his administration and the sanitary district.

On June 24, Tracy Barton — the MSD official who delivered the $5,000 to Tyler in a local parking lot — is scheduled to plead guilty, to  conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and be sentenced.

The charge against Barton stems not from his dealings with the then-mayor, but instead with his role in "The Program," a scheme to solicit bribes from contractors in exchange for sanitary district work.

Phil Nichols — former Delaware County Democratic Party chairman, and like Tyler a retired city firefighter — has also signed an agreement calling for him to plead guilty in connection with that conspiracy.

However, a filing last week by his defense attorney — reporting Nichols has been diagnosed with dementia — could impact how that case proceeds.

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Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ex-Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler released from federal prison