A high school athletic director in Indiana has been accused of lying on bank documents and taking money from a school account.
According to The Elkhart Truth, Mark Engle, athletic director at Fairfield High Community Schools, has been charged with perjury as a Level 6 felony. Police say he took $450 from an athletics account which he allegedly said was intended to pay three other people, and that he didn’t properly set up a not-for-profit before opening a summer camp account.
Engle was hired at Fairfield in 2021 and was placed on leave after the allegations surfaced.
Police began investigating Engle in Sept. of 2024 after he allegedly told another school employee that he took $450 from the school's account on Eventlink. A detective checked Fairfield's account and saw three $150 deposit made into his own account.
Engle resigned in Oct. of 2025 and admitted that he inappropriately paid himself through Eventlink.
“This transaction was done in my error,” he wrote, according to the affidavit. “That error was extremely negligent on my part.”
In recordings that the superintendent gave the ISP detective, Engle allegedly said the $450 was intended to pay three employees who “went above and beyond in their duties” at Fairfield football games."
Engle went on to say that the employees didn't have Eventlink accounts, so he paid himself in order to pay the employees. The employees referenced, however, never go the money.
Detectives also looked at Engle's handling of youth summer camps between 2022 and 2024. The school had advised him to open a separate non-profit account to hold money collected from campers, but Engle allegedly started an account in his own name, and using his own social security number.
When interviewed about the camps, Engle allegedly said he didn’t carry any insurance on the camps and that he didn’t do anything with taxes concerning the not-for-profit. He allegedly said he took care of the camps and there was no one he had to report to.
