The former chief executive officer of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium was sentenced to seven years in prison Monday after he pleaded guilty to 15 felonies related to defrauding the zoo of more than $2.3 million.
Tom Stalf, 56, appeared in Delaware County Common Pleas Court Monday morning to be sentenced after be reached a plea agreement with prosecutors over the summer and pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated theft, a second-degree felony; one count of conspiracy, a second-degree felony; one count of telecommunications fraud, a third-degree felony; and 12 counts of tampering with records, fourth and fifth-degree felonies.
At the hearing, Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge David M. Gormley sentenced Stalf to seven years in prison.
The case was prosecuted by the Ohio Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Section, who said that as the zoo’s CEO, Stalf took advantage of his position to enrich himself, his family, and his friends by scheming to defraud the zoo through a pattern of corrupt activity and lying through financial forms to cover up the wrongdoing.
“He and two other former zoo executives – Marketing Director Pete Fingerhut and Chief Financial Officer Greg Bell – were named in a Sept. 18, 2023, indictment, accused of manipulating credit-card and check-authorization forms for more than a decade and using the nonprofit’s public funds for personal use,” the office said in a release Monday. Since their indictment, two additional former zoo employees were also charged.”
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office said the money was spent on “lavish times” unrelated to the zoo, including hotel suites, concert tickets, sports tickets, golf memberships, international trips, meals and vehicles.
In a sentencing memorandum filed with the court, prosecutors suggested that Stalf and his co-conspirators had failed in their fiduciary obligations to the zoo and taxpayers.
“Leaders of charities and nonprofits in Ohio undertake the responsibility to support the charitable missions of the organizations they lead and set an example to the employees they oversee to be stewards of the organization and its assets,” the memo said.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the Columbus Zoo has been a “crown jewel of Central Ohio” and said that Stalf was a “pretender (who) stole the jewels right out of that crown.”
“Cages can hold more than zoo animals,” Yost said Monday.
As part of the sentencing, Stalf will be required to pay $315,572.65 in criminal restitution to the Columbus Zoo, State of Ohio and Internal Revenue Service. The amount is in addition to $400,000 in restitution that was already been paid on his behalf.
Three of the four others charged in the scheme have already been sentenced. A sentencing hearing for Fingerhut is set for Oct. 28.
• Greg Bell was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $583,697.44 in criminal restitution.
• Former purchasing agent Tracy Murnane was sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years of probation. Murnane paid $101,000 in civil and criminal restitution.
• Grant Bell, a former purchasing assistant and the son of Greg Bell, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $8,554.61 in criminal restitution.
• Fingerhut, who pleaded guilty on July 2, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 28
Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.
