‘UPDATE!’ $2.3M Ohio Zoo Fraud Case Sees Additional Defendant Charged

Columbus, Ohio — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said this morning that a former purchasing agent for the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium was charged with grand theft along with five other offences.

Tracy Murnane, 65, of Westerville, is allegedly the fourth former employee of the Columbus Zoo to be charged with felonies linked to theft as part of an ongoing criminal investigation being handled by the attorney general’s Special Prosecution division.

Melissa Schiffel, the Delaware County prosecutor, requested that the case be prosecuted by the attorney general’s office. The inquiry and charges are being supported by the Ohio Auditor’s Office.

Murnane was accused of:

Grand theft on one count (F4).
One charge of conspiracy to commit an offence (F4).
Forgery on two counts (F4).
There is one instance of telecom fraud (F5).
Filing one false, fraudulent, or incomplete tax return (F5).

Murnane was also accused, according to officials, of two unclassified misdemeanours about the acquisition of automobiles without titles.

A bill of information filed in Delaware County Common Pleas Court includes the charges. Similar to an indictment delivered by a grand jury in criminal cases, a bill of information is a formal accusation of a crime presented to a defendant by a prosecutor.

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The bill of information states that Murnane assisted previous CEO Tom Stalf in using zoo funds to acquire a car for himself, and that while employed as a zoo purchaser, he also marketed services from his family’s business to the zoo and used a straw salesman to sell personal cars.

According to officials, Murnane is also charged with filing tax forms for 2019 without disclosing his fraudulent gains and renting a party bus for a family member’s wedding through the use of a zoo vendor barter system.

The allegations against Murnane, according to officials, come after three former executives of the Columbus Zoo were indicted in September on charges of embezzling more than $2.29 million in public monies for personal gain.

Their legal matters are still pending:

On July 9, Pete Fingerhut, the former marketing director of the zoo, will go on trial. Fingerhut was charged with sixty-two felonies and one misdemeanour.
On August 6, the former CEO Tom Stalf’s trial is scheduled to start. He is accused of 36 felonies.
On October 19 to 14, Greg Bell, the former chief financial officer, entered a guilty plea to felony counts involving aggravated theft, conspiracy, and record-tampering. After the trials of his co-defendants are over, Bell will be sentenced.