Fifth person charged in $2.29 million Columbus Zoo fraud case

July 19 — The Ohio Attorney General’s Office announced it has filed charges against one final person in a multimillion-dollar fraud investigation surrounding the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

A former purchasing assistant, Grant Bell, of Galloway, was charged with one count of theft in a report of information filed in Delaware County Common Pleas Court.

Bell is the son of the zoo’s former chief financial officer, Greg Bell, who previously pleaded guilty to 14 criminal charges related to the investigation, including aggravated robbery, conspiracy and tampering with records. Greg Bell is scheduled to be sentenced on September 19.

The two Bells were charged along with the zoo’s former CEO Tom Stalf, former marketing director Pete Fingerhut and the zoo’s former purchasing agent Tracy Murnane.

Stalf has been charged with 36 felonies and is scheduled to go to trial on August 6.

Fingerhut and Murnane pleaded guilty to charges, the former to 16 felonies and one misdemeanor, and the latter to six felony charges and two misdemeanors.

As part of a plea deal, Fingerhut agreed to pay more than $675,000 in restitution to the zoo, along with back taxes to the state and the IRS, the attorney general’s office said.

Murnane also agreed in a plea deal to pay $90,000 in restitution, according to our news partner WBNS.

Both are scheduled to be sentenced on September 23.

The group allegedly defrauded the zoo of more than $2.29 million, using the funds for vacations, vehicles, concerts, sporting events and other personal expenses from 2011 to 2021, according to the state attorney general’s office, citing a joint investigation with the Auditor of the State Special Investigations Unit.