IndyStar.com: Crime & Courts
Indiana's leading news source for all the top stories, local news, sports and weather.
Indy to enlist citizens in terrorist watch program
typical ACLU! so if I see someone exhibiting 6 out...
2 IMPD commanders replaced
2nd officer also is removed in shake-up ordered by city’s public safety director Two police commanders were replaced Monday in the latest shake-up initiated by the city’s interim public safety director, Mark Renner. Maj. Chad Knecht, a...
Generous activists, but was cash stolen?
Partner of gay-rights organizer is charged with embezzling Marla Stevens was a high-profile and potent gay-rights activist when she lived in Indiana. After she moved to Iowa in 2003, she began to back her causes with cash. Stevens and her partner,...
Fraud trial won't be moved to New York
A federal judge in Indianapolis has refused a New York socialite’s request to move her trial on fraud and conspiracy charges to her hometown. Dina Wein Reis’ trial is scheduled for June 7 in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. She is...
IMPD investigates suspicious death on Far Eastside
Metropolitan police were investigating the suspicious death of a woman found Monday in a vacant apartment on the Far Eastside. A maintenance worker at the Oak Tree Apartments found the woman’s body in an a unit in the 9000 block of Saratoga...
Ex-Westside property manager tied to $150K in embezzlements
A former property manager for Westside Community Development Corp. is under investigation for allegedly embezzling over $150,000 in rent payments made by dozens of low-income residents. Elizabeth R. Graves, who worked at the federally supported...
Iraq vet held after shooting at police
LYNN — Pending a hearing on Tuesday, Andrew Seth Ward remains in jail today without bond and reportedly without remembering how he got there. Ward, 26, Lynn, was arrested Friday night by Randolph County sheriff’s deputies on preliminary...
IMPD promotes two district commanders
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police appointed two new district commanders today. Twenty-year IMPD veteran Chad Knecht was appointed East District Commander. Lloyd Crowe, a 24-year IMPD veteran, was appointed commander of the Southwest District. They...
A time of trial
3 years after mass killing, a judge will hear evidence against the accused mastermind In the days after gunmen slaughtered four adults and three children inside a tidy house, shivers of grief emanating from Hamilton Avenue were met with promises of...
Indy mass murder trial starts Monday
In the days after gunmen slaughtered four adults and three children inside a tidy house, shivers of grief emanating from Hamilton Avenue were met with promises of justice. Forty months later, on the eve of the first trial, life is still on hold. The...
Missing Bloomington-area man's remains identified through DNA
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The remains of a man found last spring have been identified as those of a Bloomington-area man who had been missing for several months. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department says 59-year-old Edward Smashey likely died of natural...
Doctor gets 15 years in prison in plot to kill wife, 2 others
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A Northern Indiana doctor will spend 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in what prosecutors say was a plot to kill his estranged wife and two other people. A federal grand jury in March indicted Dr. Lesley Scholl of Elkhart...
Fort Wayne man has more years added to sentence in incest case
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A Fort Wayne man who authorities say fathered seven children with his half-sister has gotten a 2-1/2 year sentence for invasion of privacy added to a 34-year sentence in the incest case. Donald Medsker was sentenced Friday in Allen...
Drug ring bust turns up $290,000 in cash
GOSHEN, Ind. — Authorities say an investigation in Goshen into a cocaine trafficking ring turned up about $290,000 in cash. Police say the bust is related to a larger drug-trafficking ring from Mexico. Authorities say they found suspected cocaine...
Bus stop robber gets 12 years in prison
A judge this morning sentenced an Indianapolis teen to 12 years in prison for two robberies of students waiting for school buses. The incidents were among four robberies of students Jan. 22 on Indianapolis’ Northeastside. Police said three...
Feds charge lawyer with skimming foreclosure cash
An Indianapolis lawyer was charged today with bilking a mortgage company of $106,000 from the purchase of foreclosed homes. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Indianapolis said Brian L. Nehrig, 43, skimmed profits from 32 foreclosure purchases in...
Man slain in SUV on Far Eastside
A 34-year-old man was found fatally shot in a SUV Thursday night on the Far Eastside. Lawene Chaney, Indianapolis, was in the driver’s seat of a gray, 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe parked at 8044 Roy Rd. at 7:30 p.m., according an Indianapolis...
Wabash man charged with 'thrill-killing' deer
WABASH, Ind. — State conservation officers have arrested a 25-year-old man who they say was “thrill-killing” deer in rural Wabash and Whitley counties. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says in a press release that Grant...
Swim coach's case will be reviewed
The Marion County prosecutor’s office is seeking more time to file formal charges against a swim coach in Lawrence accused of sexual misconduct with a minor. Prosecutor’s office spokesman Mario Massillamany said the initial hearing for...
Man found fatally shot in SUV on Far Eastside
Police were investigating the fatal shooting of a man on the Far Eastside late Thursday. Police found a man in his 30s, who had been shot several times, inside a Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle in the 8000 block of Roy Road about 7:30 p.m.,...
Man fatally shot on Far Eastside
Metropolitan police were looking for a suspect who shot a man to death on the Far Eastside Thursday night. Police found the victim suffering multiple gunshot wounds inside a Chevrolet Tahoe in the 8000 block of Roy Road at about 7:30 p.m., said Sgt....
Guardsman won't be prosecuted for standoff
Prosecutors won’t pursue any criminal charges against a man involved in a seven-hour standoff with a police SWAT team last week at his apartment in Downtown Indianapolis. Police had arrested 26-year-old Jason Carrera on a preliminary charge of...
Court: Inmates' sexual romps not a crime
The Indiana Court of Appeals says six inmates at the Greene County Jail didn’t commit a crime when they sneaked into each other’s cells to have sex. The 2-1 ruling upheld Greene Superior Court Judge Dena Martin’s decision dismissing...
Dillinger auction trove includes letter to dad
DALLAS — In a letter from jail, John Dillinger tells his father he knows he’s been a disappointment but also assures him that he’s “not guilty of half of the things I am charged with and I’ve never hurt anyone.”...
17-year term brings an end to police corruption case
A 17-year prison sentence handed down Wednesday to a former narcotics detective brought to a close Indianapolis police’s worst corruption scandal in years. Jason P. Edwards, 38, was the last of three Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department...
Ex-policeman gets 42 months in U.S. prison
Former officer pleaded guilty to drug, fraud charges in 2007 HAMMOND, Ind. — A former St. Joseph County police officer accused with two other lawmen of selling stolen items and drugs has been sentenced to 42 months in federal prison. Ryan...
Boy won't be tried as adult in rape
A 15-year-old boy accused of raping a youth counselor at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center won’t be tried as an adult, a judge ruled Wednesday. Marion Superior Court Judge Kurt Eisgruber, sitting as special judge, wrote in his...
Woman gets 63 years for killing mother
An Indianapolis woman was sentenced to 63 years in prison Wednesday for beating her mother to death. Marion Superior Court Judge Lisa Borges gave Victoria Graham, 43, nearly the maximum penalty for murder. A jury convicted her last month of beating...
Ex-IMPD cop gets 17 years in drug plot
A federal judge sentenced a former Indianapolis narcotics detective to 17 years in prison today for his role in a conspiracy to steal money and drugs. Jason P. Edwards, 38, was among three Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers arrested...
Judge: Rape suspect won't be tried as adult
A 15-year-old boy accused of raping a youth counselor at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center won’t be tried as an adult, a judge ruled today. Marion Superior Court Judge Kurt Eisgruber, sitting as special judge, wrote in his decision...
