Mark Green, the once-respected superintendent of Columbia City Parks and Recreation, has fallen from grace in a blaze of financial misconduct. Sentenced to three years in prison for pilfering over $240,000 from city coffers, Green’s ill-fated spending spree involved purchasing baseball cards of all things.
The sordid tale began to unravel in March 2023, triggering an investigation spearheaded by Columbia City Mayor Ryan Daniel. Suspicious financial transactions raised red flags, setting off a chain of events that ultimately led to Green’s undoing. Collaborating with the Whitley County Prosecutor’s Office, Indiana State Police, and the Indiana State Board of Accounts, the investigation exposed Green’s misdeeds and resulted in his swift termination.
Startling revelations emerged from court documents, painting a vivid picture of Green’s extravagant spending habits. The disgraced superintendent splurged a staggering $246,000 on baseball cards from ‘Sport Spot’ using the city’s credit card. To add insult to injury, Green then flipped some of these cards on eBay, perpetuating his fraudulent behavior. Eventually, his guilt caught up with him as he confessed to the unauthorized use of city funds for personal gain.
Initially facing a slew of charges including corrupt business influence, theft, and official misconduct, Green took a plea deal in April 2024 to plead guilty to one count of theft. This cunning maneuver led to the dismissal of all other charges, but came with a hefty price tag. Green was ordered to make restitution totaling $275,628, with $100,000 earmarked for a bond company and the remaining $175,628 to be repaid to the city he wronged.
The reckoning finally arrived for Green as he faced his day of judgment in court on Monday. The sentencing pronounced by the court decreed that he would spend the first year of his three-year term either behind bars or on work release, with the subsequent two years under probationary supervision. The fallout from this scandal has exposed glaring deficiencies in the financial oversight mechanisms within Columbia City’s Parks and Recreation Department, prompting urgent calls for tighter controls and stricter monitoring protocols.
