ELLETTSVILLE, Ind. — Residents and authorities in Ellettsville are trying to make sense of an unexpected surge of people and illegal activity over the weekend, as crowds overflowed into the town during Little 500 celebrations.

According to the Ellettsville Police Department, more than 2,000 individuals flooded local streets and Marci Jane Lewis Park on Saturday. The sudden influx led to significant disruptions, prompting assistance from multiple law enforcement agencies to help disperse the crowd.

Those inside nearby businesses grew concerned, including at The Hawaiian Hoosier, where Chloe Wirt was the only employee on duty during the incident.

“Never once have there been this many people in this little town of Ellettsville,” Wirt said.

Police said the crowds spilled over from Little 500 festivities in Bloomington, bringing public drinking, marijuana use, blocked roads and illegal speed contests with them.

“It was very stressful,” Wirt added. “There were cars lined up all outside, people throwing their drinks, cussing out cars in the road, everyone was walking in the street.”

The activity forced local Little League teams to vacate Marci Jane Lewis Park, while officers called for backup from state troopers and sheriff’s deputies.

“I’ve been in law enforcement for a long time,” Ellettsville Police Chief Jimmie Durnil said. “For an unscheduled event — of course, I’ve been to the 500 and things like that. But nothing like this.”

Durnil estimated up to 2,500 people were present for the meet-up — far beyond the number the town would have allowed even under a permitted gathering.

“The number shocked me,” he said. “I worked the Little 500 for years and realized this kind of stuff was happening, but didn’t realize it was going to come to Ellettsville Saturday.”

Despite the scale of the event, no arrests were made. Durnil praised the quick response of officers, but urged anyone planning future events to respect town regulations.

“I would just suggest that people plan their weekend better, check in with people, find someone that wants to rent the land to them,” Durnil said. “Of course, that involves insurance and liability type things, but we can’t do it in downtown Ellettsville, we know that.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Indiana University Police Department reported that their officers responded to 36 reports of criminal activity during Little 500 weekend, one fewer than last year. IUPD made four arrests — two for battery, one for public intoxication and one for intimidation. IUPD said battery resulting in minor or no injury and illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor were the most commonly reported offenses. The dispatch center received 159 calls during this Little 500 weekend, compared to 130 during the same period last year.

“Several additional incidents have been referred to university officials for review or remain under active investigation,” the IUPD spokesperson said.

(WXIN/WTTV) — Not so honest? A 2024 congressional candidate who ran under the slogan “Honest Gabe for Congress” has been sentenced to three months in federal prison after admitting to falsifying campaign finance contributions.

Gabriel Whitley, a 27-year-old from Indianapolis, most recently ran as a Republican candidate for Indiana’s seventh district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He garnered just over 13% of the vote in May and did not win the nomination.

The candidate was accused in January of lying to the Federal Election Commission and creating fake contributions made to his “Honest Gabe” campaign. He later pleaded guilty to the allegations and has now been sentenced by a federal judge.

Lying about campaign finances

Whitley reportedly committed fraud by portraying that his campaign had “significantly greater” support and money than it actually did.

Court documents detailed how last year Whitley served as the treasurer for his own campaign committee.

He has since admitted how he lied to the Federal Election Commission in three separate reports about hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign finances.

Specifically, FBI officials say Whitley made up biographical details for 67 people in October 2023 and claimed they contributed more than $220,000 to his campaign. Then, in January 2024, Whitley again gave fake donor details to the FEC. Finally, in April 2024, he falsified a $100,000 loan.

The U.S. District Attorney’s Office said in January 2025 that Whitley agreed to plead guilty to falsifying campaign contributions. On Tuesday, he received his sentence.

3 months in federal prison, fines

Whitley was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to three months in federal prison at the “lowest security level deemed appropriate.” The court also recommended that Whitley undergo substance abuse treatment, vocational training and a mental health evaluation for trauma.

In addition to his prison sentence, Whitley was given a supervised release sentence of one year. Furthermore, Whitley was ordered to pay a $100 fine and a $100 special assessment fee.

As part of his supervised release, Whitley is prohibited from committing any other crimes or having any involvement in illegal drugs or controlled substances. Furthermore, Whitley must maintain lawful full-time employment, is prohibited from owning any guns and must regularly meet with his probation officer.

The Indianapolis Business Journal reported that during his two-hour sentencing hearing, Judge James Sweeney said Whitley was receiving a lenient sentence in part due to his lack of criminal history. Furthermore, Sweeney said Whitley had a “troubled, traumatic childhood” and that he suffered from several ongoing mental health issues.

The IBJ also reported that Whitley implied during the hearing that he would no longer pursue political positions and said he was “embarrassed” of his actions. Whitley also told the court that he did not know his campaign finances were fraudulent.

Whitley’s past issues

This is not the first time that Whitley has found himself in legal trouble.

The former candidate was charged in September with one count of felony intimidation after reportedly threatening and encouraging violence against local attorney and journalist Abdul Shabazz.

Whitley was also accused of campaign finance violations while running for Mayor of Evansville. The Evansville Courier & Press reported in 2021 that Whitley’s alleged donors claimed to have never known him.

In 2022, Whitley was sued by WIBC-FM Indianapolis radio host Robert Kendall for his alleged posts on the Facebook group “Young Conservatives of Southern Indiana.” Kendall claimed that Whitley called him a pedophile in a comment that read “Pedo Joe [Biden] and Pedo Rob [Kendall] think alike.”

JENNINGS COUNTY, Ind. — A law firm representing the victim and his family are speaking out after a 7-year-old boy was allegedly raped multiple times in April on a Jennings County School Corporation school bus by a 15-year-old male.

A tort claim filed by the law firm alleges that Jennings County School Corporation was grossly negligent and violated the child’s civil rights, and caused him permanent injuries.

Wagner Reese attorney Laura Swafford released a statement that said the student was, “helplessly left unmonitored by two school employees who were on the bus and charged with caring for his safety.” She claims that the school bus has video footage that shows the boy being sexually assaulted multiple times, but that no one did anything to stop it.

“This nightmare tragedy should never have happened. How could both the bus driver and the additional bus monitor aide not notice anything? Like all parents in the community, the boy’s family believed the school would protect their young, vulnerable son,” said Swafford.

“The family entrusted the school to protect their son by monitoring activity on the bus. The school system breached this trust and clearly failed in its responsibility.”

The victim’s family is hoping that tragedy like this will be prevented in the future, and that schools will be held accountable for the safety and protection of students, particularly disabled children.

The North Vernon Police Department previously confirmed that the 15-year-old suspect is being held in a juvenile detention center. He has reportedly been charged with one count of rape.

Jennings County School Corporation said this in a statement on Tuesday, April 29:

“We are aware of the legal filing connected to very concerning incidents that allegedly
occurred on one of our special transportation buses, and we will respond to this filing
through the appropriate legal channels.

We cannot go into any detail about this situation because we are cooperating with an
active police investigation and additionally are involved in this litigation.

I want to emphasize, though, that these reports involving students’ safety have been
heartbreaking and devastating to all of us. Nothing is more important than the safety of
our students.

While this incident must still be investigated and resolved through our criminal justice
system, we are taking steps to try to better ensure the safety of our students. As I have
previously reported to our parents and staff, those steps include:

• Adding adult supervisors to the special transportation bus in question who will actively monitor student behavior for the duration of each trip.
• Reducing the number of students on each special transportation bus.
• Seating students individually whenever possible on all special transportation buses.
• Grouping students with similar-aged peers when individual seating is not
• available.
• Requiring similar peer-aged seating on all general education bus routes.
• Using our recorded monitoring system to quickly identify and address inappropriate behavior if it occurs.

The safety and well-being of our students is paramount, and we will work with our
families to support their needs and address any concerns.

Given that this is active litigation, we do not plan to have any further comments at this
time.”

This is an active investigation. Information will be updated as it becomes available.