GOSHEN — A former Fairfield Community Schools athletic director is accused of lying on bank documents and taking money from a school account.
Mark Engle, 49, is charged with perjury as a Level 6 felony and conversion as a misdemeanor in court documents filed Monday. 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 became Fairfield High School athletic director in 2021 and was placed on administrative leave after the allegations surfaced.
According to court documents:
An Indiana State Police detective began investigating Engle after he allegedly told another school employee in September 2024 that he took $450 from the school’s account on Eventlink. The school superintendent told the detective that she checked Fairfield’s account on the athletics management program and saw three $150 deposits Engle made into his own account, according to police.
Engle sent the school a resignation letter in October in which he allegedly said 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. The employees didn’t have Eventlink accounts of their own so he paid himself with the intention of giving them the money, police say.
In an interview with the detective, Engle allegedly said he never intended to steal the money and that it was intended for three employees, but they never got it. He said he was willing to return the $450, according to police.
Engle also allegedly said he may have paid himself from Eventlink for work at a tournament but found it was the wrong procedure and didn’t do it again.
The detective also looked at an account Engle opened while running youth summer camps between 2022 and 2024. The school advised him to open a separate account to hold money collected from campers, and Engle allegedly created an account using his own name and Social Security number.
The bank advised him to set up a not-for-profit to create the business bank account but he didn’t create a not-for-profit or any type of business entity to support the account, police say. He did, however, check the box for “non-profit organization” when applying for a federal tax ID number, according to investigators.
He also signed documents, under penalty of perjury, stating that the organization was valid despite never forming a business organization, police say.
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.