Tindley Accelerated Schools’ former CEO is charged with defrauding the charter network

By Aleksandra Appleton and Amelia Pak-Harvey The former CEO of an Indianapolis charter network is accused of defrauding its schools by working with two other individuals to bill for goods and services that were never provided. Brian Metcalf, who served as CEO of Tindley Accelerated Schools from July 2019 to December 2022, was charged with nine counts of wire fraud as part of what a federal indictment describes as a “scheme to defraud and to obtain money” from an unidentified Indianapolis charter school system and another unidentified nonprofit corporation. Tindley’s board of directors confirmed to Chalkbeat that the charter network was “one of two victims defrauded by the alleged criminal enterprise.” Tindley Renaissance Academy was one of two schools the network consolidated with other schools amid financial struggles in 2019. (Photo/Erica Irish) The indictment claims that two other defendants, Kimberly Maddox and James Darnell Campbell, billed false invoices to the charter network in collaboration with Metcalf. The two later sent money to Metcalf or made payments on his behalf, the indictment alleges — including payments for credit card, car loan, and mortgage expenses, as well as payments to a casino that hosted his family reunion and a construction company that...