Phil Nichols' death leaves Barton as last defendant in Muncie Democrats corruption case

MUNCIE, Ind. — With the abrupt end of efforts by federal authorities to prosecute Phil Nichols, only one case stemming from a seven-year investigation of corruption in Muncie remains unresolved.

Nichols, a 75-year-old retired firefighter and former Democratic Party chairman in Delaware County, died Monday according to an obituary, reportedly after suffering injuries in a fall.

In March, he had signed an agreement to plead guilty in U.S. District Court to a felony charge stemming from his March 2020 indictment on allegations stemming from a conspiracy to solicit bribes from contractors pursuing work with the Muncie Sanitary District.

However, that guilty plea was never entered. More recently, Nichols's defense attorney, Brent Westerfeld, had filed motions related to a diagnosis that Nichols was suffering from dementia.

With the Nichols case now over, only one of nine cases filed that stem from the Muncie probe continues.

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Tracy Barton, a former sanitary district official charged in the same bribery conspiracy as Nichols, in April 2021 signed an agreement calling for him to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

However, a hearing at which Barton — a former member of Delaware County Council — would plead guilty and be sentenced has not yet been held.

In January, Barton's attorney filed a motion indicating lawyers in the case, including prosecutors, believe "it is best that Mr. Barton be sentenced after the cases of all co-defendants have been resolved."

Testimony has appeared to indicate Barton at some point began cooperating with federal investigations.

He participated in a phone conversation, recorded by FBI agents, with then-Mayor Dennis Tyler, in which the men discussed Barton's December 2015 delivery, to the mayor of $5,000 in cash from a city contractor.

That payment led to Tyler's 2021 conviction for theft of government funds. The ex-mayor then spent five months in a federal prison in West Virginia.

Five others charged in the federal investigation have also entered guilty pleas and been sentenced. Three are now serving sentences in federal prison.

Local contractor Tony Franklin — a co-defendant in the bribery case that also involved Nichols, Barton and others — entered a guilty plea in May. His sentencing hearing is set for Dec. 7.

Barton was most recently set to plead guilty at a June 24 hearing that was canceled. It has not yet been rescheduled, according to online court records.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.