Patio Pondering: Betty Crocker Didn’t Cook the Books Like This!
I try to keep my writings under Patio Pondering reflective, leading readers to pause and think for themselves. Today’s writing is different. It is not reflective. It is an exposé of what I have uncovered while digging into the public records of the Northeast Allen Fire Territory funds; funds that should have been returned to Springfield, Cedar Creek, and Scipio Townships, along with Leo-Cedarville and Grabill, when the Fire Territory disbanded on December 31, 2023, more than 19 months ago.
In a Patio Pondering I published on August 12, I raised questions about payments listed under DeWitt Consulting LLC, more than $56,000 from Fire Territory funds recorded as “personal services.” At least, that is what the report showed when I printed and saved it on June 10, 2025.
After learning that the Springfield Township Advisory Board had hired an attorney to examine potentially questionable activities with Fire Territory funds, I decided to look again. In the early morning hours of August 20, I ran new queries on the Gateway public data site. To my surprise, I could no longer find DeWitt Consulting listed. The same account number, 1671, that previously showed DeWitt Consulting LLC was now tied to an individual: Lori L. DeWitt.
Two different report types, Disbursements by Vendor and the Annual Financial Report, confirmed the change. Both now show two transactions linked to Lori L. DeWitt: one for $56,053.47 in Personal Services and one for $1,250 in Supplies. In addition, another $6,591.30 in Personal Services was recorded separately under her name and had also appeared in earlier reports. How does a vendor go from zero transactions in 2023 to $63,922 worth of services after the territory was closed?
The reason Lori DeWitt is important to the taxpayers of Northeast Allen County is that she is one of the three elected members of the Springfield Township Board and also serves as the office administrator for the Cedar Creek Township Trustee. Taxpayers in Springfield Township should be asking why she is being paid from funds the Advisory Board, the Trustee, and others have spent the past year fighting to have returned.
What really caught my attention was a detail on the opening page of the reports. The data had been modified at 1:06 p.m. on August 12, 2025. That was the same day my Patio Pondering questioning DeWitt Consulting went live on social media and in the East Allen Courier.
As I kept digging, I found two other vendors whose listings had changed between the June 10 version I saved and what now appears online. “JAKE,” with transactions totaling $47,465, is now listed as “Just Do It LLC.” “Steve Muncie,” whose transactions had appeared previously, is now shown as “D & B Services LLC.” A little searching shows a familial link between D & B Services and Lori L. DeWitt. Searches for “Just Do It LLC” do not lead to logical businesses one would expect to provide nearly $47,500 worth of services to a Fire Territory.
I am a simple man who makes a living with pigs, but something does not add up. Public records do not normally change months after the fact. Vendor names do not morph from individuals into LLCs or vice versa without explanation. Taxpayers should not have to wonder whether the reports they see today will be different tomorrow.
This is not just about numbers on a spreadsheet. It is about trust, accountability, and whether public money is being handled as promised. I know some funds were sent to the townships by Cedar Creek, but my math says there should have been more. Where did the rest of the money go? The transactions I uncovered may be only the tip of the iceberg of questionable spending; money used for purposes other than the fire protection that the citizens of northeast Allen County paid for with their hard-earned tax dollars.