FISHERS - The director in charge of traffic flow and inspections in Fishers is fired after 13 Investigates tracked his take home car hundreds of miles away at a resort in another state.
An alert viewer took pictures of the car and forwarded them to 13 Investigates, who tracked down the man behind the wheel and has a warning for public officials: Taxpayers are watching for abuse of take-home car policies.
The director of engineering in Fishers works to ensure free flowing traffic through town. But 13 Investigates discovered questionable personal travel for the top administrator, at taxpayer expense, after tracking his take-home municipal vehicle to pictures snapped at a fishing hole hundreds of miles away.
"Do you want to respond to these pictures?" 13 Investigates asked Jeff Heiking, while holding the pictures up in front of him.
"No," he snapped back.
"Why won't you?" 13 Investigates pressed.
"Because I don't feel I need to," the engineering director of eight years said.
It all started with two snapshots from an alert viewer who does not want to be identified, and two simple questions.
"Why was there an Indiana municipal plated vehicle at Star Point Resort in Byrdstown, Tennessee the weekend of July 8th? Are we expected to pay for this as taxpayers?" the viewer asked.
With a vehicle description, 13 Investigates scoured hundreds of fleet records from Noblesville, Anderson, Carmel and Fishers until we found a match.
The silver Chevy Equinox came back to Jeff Heiking, the Fishers town engineer.
Next, our network systems administrator checked for GPS tracking coordinates on the photos. With a few clicks, he found the location: Star Point Road, in Byrdstown, Tennessee.
Someone drove a taxpayer-owned vehicle from the Town of Fishers, 284 miles across two state lines, to the Star Point Resort.
13 Investigates went to Town Hall looking to talk to Jeff Heiking about his travels. He wasn't on the job. Instead he was beginning a five-day suspension for what we're told was an unrelated matter.
We caught up with Heiking at home. He asked to speak with us off camera first before agreeing to answer a few questions.
"You don't deny this is you?" 13 Investigates asked Heiking,
"I don't," he responded.
He admits he was the one who drove his town issued vehicle to a Tennessee resort, but there's a twist.
"I think it's something you can talk to the town manager about. He gave the approval," Heiking said, as 13 Investigates questioned him about abusing taxpayer dollars.
We want to make sure we heard right, so we asked again.
"Did you have permission?"
"Yes," said Heiking.
"From the town manager?" followed 13 Investigates.
"Yes," Heiking affirmed the second time.
13 Investigates sat down with Town Manager Scott Fadness, and showed him our fleet records, the photos and our findings.
"I did not know he was in Byrdstown," Fadness told 13 Investigates.
When asked if Heiking had permission to take the vehicle out of state, Fadness said, "No...no."
According to Fadness, municipal vehicles can't be taken out of county.
According to the Fishers' take-home car policy, vehicles are to be driven to and from work only, not for personal use.
"He has told us that you gave him permission to do this," 13 Investigates told Fadness.
" Really?" he responded with surprise. "No, that would not be correct," he said, denying he approved such a trip. "It would be against our town policies which protects taxpayer dollars," he added.
13 Investigates asked: "What do you say to taxpayers where someone is admittedly driving a vehicle, not only out of county, but two states away?"
"That we'll look into it and if there's wrongdoing, we'll take care of it swiftly," promised Fadness.
By the close of business, the Town of Fishers terminated Engineering Director Jeff Heiking for violating the town policy on vehicle use. In a statement the Fadness said:
"The Town of Fishers has terminated Engineering Director Jeff Heiking for violating the Town of Fishers' employee administration policy on vehicle use. It is our practice not to comment on personnel issues, however, it is important to note no laws were violated and Mr. Heiking committed no criminal action. The Town of Fishers is committed to protecting its resources from misuse and will take necessary disciplinary action when needed."
Heiking did take a personal day off for his travels, and paid for his own gas. But town officials don't know if he filled his tank before he left work.
Heiking's salary was $77,678 per year.
Fishers take-home vehicle policy
