Muncie mayor says FBI investigating city government

Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler said the FBI is investigating the city's government for possible wrongdoing.
 

Tyler told The Star Press that his administration has provided information to investigators and he has advised his department heads to cooperate with the investigation.
 

The newspaper said the scope of the investigation is hard to define, but FBI agents from Muncie and Indianapolis have conducted interviews about:
 

—Building demolitions overseen by the city, some of them performed by a company founded by Craig Nichols, the building commissioner.
 

—The abrupt departure from Muncie City Hall this spring of Gretchen Cheesman, a longtime city employee who had overseen some demolition contracts for Muncie Community Development. Cheesman subsequently told officials she would talk to Tyler about what she knew about demolitions if her status was changed from fired to retired and her benefits were restored.
 

—The Muncie Sanitary District's purchase of a former flea market building for $395,000 in September, about a month after the previous owner sold it for $150,000.
 

FBI spokeswoman Wendy Osborne would not confirm the investigation.
 

Delaware County Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold said he had no information on the investigation. He said it would not be unusual for his office to receive no notification of an ongoing FBI investigation.