Grant County board releases outside investigation recommending federal and state referrals
Grant County released an outside investigative report Wednesday accusing County Commissioner Chuck Poling of intimidating county employees, using the county’s camera system to conduct video and audio surveillance of the human resources office, and offering an employee a raise if she voted for a candidate he supported.
The county made the report public following a special session of the Board of Commissioners on September 2. It recommends that the county refer its findings to the Indiana State Police, a conflict-free prosecuting attorney, the FBI’s Indianapolis field office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana, and the Indiana State Board of Accounts.
The investigation began in late July after the county’s human resources department notified the legal department of complaints from multiple employees and elected officials. Commissioners Shane Middlesworth and Ron Stewart directed the legal department to have an outside investigation conducted. Attorney Gary Johnson was appointed lead investigator and retained attorney Martha Lemert to conduct the factual and legal investigation. County Attorney Martin Harker was conflicted out because of past representation of Poling, according to the report. Consulting County Attorney Edward Ormsby serves as the county’s attorney on the matter.
The report summarizes interviews with 15 witnesses along with video footage, system logs, invoices and contemporaneous statements.
Camera and Audio Logs
The report states that between May 21 and August 24, 2026, Poling logged 4,870 separate events in the county’s Verkada camera system. It states he conducted 349 viewing sessions of a camera covering the office housing the county administrator and HR director — 135 live streams and 214 reviews of recorded video — and triggered 137 “camera audio change” events across multiple cameras, 55 of them tied to that camera.
According to the report, IT manager Marcus Elliott said Poling asked him on July 31 to turn on audio for the HR camera and told him not to tell anyone, saying he wanted to know whether the two HR employees were going to leave. Elliott said he documented the request in a help-desk ticket.
County legal instructed IT to disable audio on all county cameras on August 20. The report states that Poling confronted Elliott the next day, told him he was his boss and that in January he was “going to clean stuff up.” IT employee Brian Kikendall told investigators Poling returned later that day, after Elliott had left, and directed that the audio be restored. Kikendall said Poling also instructed IT not to release investigation-related material without the approval of two commissioners, including to HR or legal counsel. The report states no such vote occurred.
Vote and a Raise
Employee Emileigh Barnes told investigators that Poling brought commissioner candidate Ed Hartman through the assessor’s office during working hours on March 24, asked whether she planned to vote, and said close to her ear that if she voted for Hartman she would be able to get a raise. The report states camera footage with audio corroborates the encounter.
Payments and Disclosures
The report states invoices from February 2025 through June 5, 2026 show the county paid Poling’s business, Chuck’s Sewer & Drain, $56,630, and that Poling did not abstain from approving claims involving his own business except on one occasion. It also states his conflict-of-interest disclosures did not list Chomp Properties LLC, and that Chomp quitclaim-deeded a property assessed at $37,100 to a company owned by podcaster Ed Bounds shortly before the primary.
Reached by phone Wednesday, Poling declined to comment on the allegations, saying he had received the report the same day the public did.
“I have no comment because I just found all this out myself today, just like the public did,” Poling said. Asked whether he disputed the allegations, Poling said, “Well, yeah,” then said he had no comment because he did not know what the report contained. “I never got a heads up,” he said.
The report states that Ormsby spoke with Poling by telephone at 8:39 p.m. on August 23 to outline the preliminary findings and ask for his responses. According to the report, Poling cursed, yelled and cut off Ormsby during the 14-minute call, said he knew who the witnesses were, said they would all be gone, said to get ready for Hell, and hung up.
No charges have been filed. The report states it is not a charging decision and that its findings remain subject to review by authorities with subpoena power.
