Former Delaware County employee charged with 10 felony counts after theft investigation

Delaware County’s prosecutor is officially charging the former office manager of Delaware County Emergency Medical Services with 10 felonies. The charges come two months after she was arrested for alleged theft from county agencies.

Meagan Coutinho was arrested in June after an Indiana State Police investigation found about $200,000 had been stolen from Delaware County agencies between the years 2021 and 2026.

This week, Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman filed official charges with the local court.  Coutinho is charged with 10 felonies in total – five for theft, three for fraud, one for conflict of interest, and one for official misconduct.

Charging documents say with her actions over several years, Coutinho is being charged with stealing from Delaware County, the Delaware County EMS Association, the Delta Golf Boosters – which is part of the Delaware County School Corporation, and the Indiana Public Employee’s Retirement Fund.

In documents supporting her arrest, state police say Coutinho took money from a Delaware County EMS “benevolent account” that’s partially funded by EMS employee contributions. Police say she did this through more than 25 direct transfers to a personal account in her name, totaling more than $14,000, and by using the account to pay more than personal credit card bills and to buy things.

Coutinho also submitted more than 5,800 hours of unauthorized overtime between 2021 and 2026, for which the county paid her more than $181,000. When interviewed by state police, she claims previous supervisors authorized the hours. Those supervisors disputed that to police.

Charges also include:

• missing money from the Delta Girls Golf Booster club while Coutinho was treasurer. She reimbursed the club $3,8000.
• Failure to deposit public funds from 2024-2025, which state law says is a felony.
• Using her role as sole owner of a cleaning company to set up a contract with the county without a conflict of interest form. State law says that’s a felony.  The county paid her $7,000.

Coutinho resigned her job in February after being interviewed by state police.  Her case is being handled by Delaware Circuit Court Number 1.

Her husband, John Coutinho, was fired in June, after previously being suspended indefinitely without pay in late March from his job as head of the county’s Emergency Management Agency.  At the time, Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman had said the Indiana State Police were conducting a criminal investigation of “internal theft committed by a Delaware County employee.”

Commissioners promoted deputy director Cory Kissick to that agency’s top spot.

Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host.  Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu.