South Bend Common Council’s Sharon McBride Not Charged After DuComb Center Probe Cites 2,514 Missing Hours and $134,644 in Questioned Pay
- Logan Foster
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 11 hours ago
By Logan FosterFebruary 14, 2025
South Bend Common Council’s Sharon McBride Not Charged After DuComb Center Probe Cites 2,514 Missing Hours and $134,644 in Questioned Pay
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A special prosecutor has declined to file criminal charges against South Bend Common Councilwoman Sharon McBride after investigators documented thousands of hours of unexplained absences during her tenure as director of the DuComb Center, according to a newly released court filing. The DuComb Center is a county-run work-release and community corrections facility that supervises individuals serving court-ordered sentences outside the jail.
The report, filed in November 2025, concludes a months-long criminal investigation into whether McBride collected more than $134,000 in pay for time she did not work. It marks the second time this year that Special Prosecutor Christopher Gaal has closed an investigation into McBride without charges, following a separate residency review issued in August.
Key Findings in the Newly Released Ghost-Employment Report
The 17-page ghost-employment filing outlines evidence gathered by Indiana State Police and forensic accountants. According to the report:
“McBride’s keycard activity logged in 648 hours as compared to the required 3,162 from January 1, 2022 to February 22, 2024.”
The accountant identified:
“The payroll cost in question for the 2,514 hours without keycard activity was $134,644.56.”
Investigators also compared payroll records with casino data obtained from Four Winds. The report states:
“There were 35 instances during the 8:00 am to 4:30 pm business hours where McBride’s account cashed out comps at South Bend and New Buffalo Four Winds Casinos. On most of these days there was no keycard activity on McBride’s keycards.”
Despite this evidence, Gaal declined prosecution. He wrote that the county keycard system:
“was not intended as a direct time-keeping record for the purpose of recording ‘worked hours.’”
He also concluded that the methodology used by the private forensic accountant “relied on speculation” because it attempted to “impute” required work hours based on the DuComb Center’s standard operating schedule, even though the director’s job description allowed off-site duties.
The report states:
“The credible and admissible evidence is not sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a criminal offense has occurred.”
The investigation was formally closed with no charges.
Residency Case Earlier This Year Reached a Similar Outcome
The ghost-employment decision follows an earlier report released in August 2025 in which Gaal also declined to bring charges related to McBride’s listed residence during the 2023 election.
In that case, investigators examined whether McBride lived at the Broadway Street property she used on candidate filings. Records reviewed in the report included months of minimal water use and limited trash service, along with McBride’s own sworn deposition in which she acknowledged living elsewhere.
Still, Gaal wrote that Indiana’s legal standard focuses on domicile, not day-to-day occupancy. The filing concluded:
“The evidence… does not establish that McBride had permanently abandoned her domicile.”
He determined the State could not prove she had “knowingly” submitted a false declaration and closed the case.
Parallel Reasoning in Both Declinations
While the two investigations examined different issues, one involving employment records and the other involving election residency, the reasoning in both reports follows a similar pattern.
There is an acknowledgment of significant factual findings. There is emphasis on the limits of the evidence for proving intent. There is a focus on administrative or civil remedies rather than criminal charges.
In the ghost-employment report, the prosecutor wrote that the termination of McBride’s employment “indicates that there was an available civil… review of the matter sufficient to vindicate the public’s interest.”
In the residency decision, he described quo warranto, a civil removal mechanism, as the appropriate avenue for addressing disputes over eligibility.
Case Status and Public Trust
Both investigations into McBride are now closed and no criminal charges have been filed. But for many residents, the issue is no longer the evidence in each file. It is the pattern. A Democratic special prosecutor has twice reviewed allegations against a Democratic councilwoman, both involving extensive documentation, and both times ended the inquiries with the same narrow legal reasoning. Even without proof of coordination, the appearance of political insulation is unmistakable. When outcomes repeatedly fall along party lines, and accountability seems to stall once an elected official inside the same political circle is involved, it reinforces a public belief that the system protects its own. This is how trust in local government collapses: not through one scandal, but through a repeated pattern of insiders closing ranks around each other, leaving the public convinced that accountability in South Bend is conditional, selective, and reserved for people without the connections to avoid it.
For more information on Chris Gaal and his background, you can visit his website here: https://chrisgaal.com/
UPDATE: County Officials Say Their Investigation Will Continue
Redress South Bend contacted county officials familiar with the matter, and those individuals indicated that they intend to continue pursuing the issues surrounding McBride and the DuComb Center. According to those officials, St Joseph County's investigation remains active and includes a wide range of concerns. These include overtime irregularities, improper financial transactions, violations of county policy, and the hiring of McBride’s approximately 80-year-old mother, Delores Walker. County payroll records show that McBride's mother was the county’s 15th-highest-paid employee in 2023, earning $105,614, which included more than $47,000 in overtime pay. Officials said these matters remain under review and could lead to further civil action.
