Indiana
FBI agents searching home of former Pickleball Rocks owner in Brookville, Indiana
BROOKVILLE, Ind. — FBI agents are searching a home in Brookville, Indiana belonging to a man who once owned the apparel company Pickleball Rocks.
According to the FBI, agents are seeking to identify potential victims who may have invested with the owner of the home, Rodney Grubbs.
The FBI is asking anyone who may have been victimized by Grubbs to fill out a form on their website. The agency says all victim identities will be kept confidential.
The FBI’s Indianapolis Division is seeking to identify potential victims who invested with Rodney Grubbs, the former owner of Pickleball Rocks. Please visit https://t.co/XvWnr0AOKn for additional information and a link to a short form.
— FBI Indianapolis (@FBIIndianapolis) December 4, 2024
Agents at Grubbs’ home were seen carrying boxes out of the home and putting them into an unmarked vehicle parked outside. An FBI spokesperson said agents were executing a search warrant at the home, but did not say what prompted the search.
The FBI did not say whether Grubbs has been charged with any crimes at this time.
In January, Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales issued a cease and desist order to Grubbs “to stop an alleged fraudulent investment scheme concerning a Pickleball apparel and equipment company All About Pickleball LLC., also known as ‘Pickleball Rocks.’”
The petition alleges Grubbs solicited investments in the form of promissory notes from investors that “contained a high interest rate of 12% compounded monthly and contained an 18% penalty provision in the case of default.”
Grubbs allegedly met and solicited investors at pickleball tournaments; many of those investors have not been repaid, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
In 2023, multiple people filed civil cases against Grubbs, claiming they’d made investments to him and were not paid back. The suits claim Grubbs promised the plaintiffs returns, with interest ranging from 14% to 21%, and amounts owed by Grubbs totaling in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
In three civil cases filed by different investors between July 2023 and November 2023, plaintiffs claim Grubbs issued them promissory notes, then refused to pay the resulting principal and interest.
All three plaintiffs won their cases. Grubbs was ordered to pay over $4 million plus attorney fees in one case, over $3 million plus attorney fees in another and over $1 million plus attorney fees for a third.
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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The ‘Big Boy’ Locomotive is making its way back west from Philadelphia, and is in the area on Wednesday and Thursday.
It has a 30-minute stop tomorrow morning at 11:30 in Continental, Ohio, about an hour east of downtown Fort Wayne. Then, it will travel into New Haven from the east.
Recommended viewing spots are along Dawkins Road near Webster Road at Jefferson Township Park or in town at the New Haven City Hall parking lot.
Train officials remind spectators they should remain more than 25 feet away from the tracks to avoid trespassing and to stay safe.
After an overnight stay in New Haven, which is not open to the public, it will travel through downtown Fort Wayne around 9 am Thursday.
It will then make a 30-minute stop in Knox, Indiana, about 2 hours west of Fort Wayne, near South Bend and Valparaiso, which is open to the public at N. Main St. and W. Bender St. from 12:30 to 1p Central Time.
Crowds have been very large and officials suggest arriving early.
In June, Big Boy stopped here on its way to Philadelphia for the Fourth of July as part of the historic coast-to-coast tour in celebration of the United States of America’s 250th birthday.
Union Pacific’s ‘Big Boy’ No. 4014 is the world’s largest operating steam engine, weighing in at a whopping 1.2 million pounds. Twenty-five Big Boys were commissioned for Union Pacific, the first being delivered in 1941, where they were used to haul equipment in support of the war at the time.
You can track the historic locomotive through a live map of the train’s location, here.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WSBT) — New standards are now in place for Indiana schools to request four day school week waivers.
Operation Education told you about the pilot program at Vinton Elementary near Lafayette back in 2024.
Operation Education: Indiana elementary pilots 4-day school week
That pilot program ends next spring.
It is the only school in Indiana operating on a four day week schedule.
The state’s new standards mean schools have to earn an “A” grade to be considered.
They also have to offer transportation for students who choose to attend a school on a five day schedule, pay teachers at least $45,000 a year, and offer enrichment and remediation at no cost to parents on the fifth day.
The State Board of Education would then decide if the school can move to a four day week.
More than 800 schools nationwide now operate on that schedule.
MONROE COUNTY, Ind. – The ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit over what it calls “unconstitutional conditions” at the Monroe County Jail.
This comes after the advocacy group previously suggested it would take legal action to resolve a lengthy dispute over the facility’s safety.
The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of two individuals currently incarcerated at the jail. It cites chronic overcrowding, deteriorating infrastructure, unsafe living conditions and the county’s inability to remedy the problems.
The dispute originally flared in 2008, when the ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit challenging conditions at the jail. That led to a 2009 settlement in which county officials promised a long-term solution. Over the years, the deadline for improvements has been extended multiple times.
While the county appeared to embrace a brand-new justice complex near I-69 and State Road 46, those plans stalled when the county council voted down the project due to cost concerns.
The ACLU said the settlement has expired and the original lawsuit has been dismissed, necessitating the filing of a new one. The lawsuit claims conditions at the jail violate the 14th Amendment rights of people awaiting trial and 8th Amendment rights of people held after conviction.
The lawsuit names the Monroe County Council, Monroe County commissioners and Monroe County sheriff as defendants.
In a news release, the ACLU cited several problems at the jail, ranging from overcrowding to “extreme temperatures, broken plumbing, mold, crumbling walls, limited disability access, and failures to safely separate people with different medical and security needs.”
Ken Falk, legal director for the ACLU of Indiana, said officials have had long enough to fix the numerous issues.
“They have had nearly two decades to find a lasting solution, yet people are still being held in unconstitutional conditions that threaten their health and safety,” Falk said in a statement. “Studies have documented that the jail is dangerous and inadequate, and the sheriff has been candid about its many problems. However, the sheriff’s role under Indiana law is limited, and the county officials who could solve this problem have not listened.”
The ACLU is asking the court to certify the case as a class action and seeks a permanent injunction “requiring defendants to take all steps necessary to ensure that the conditions of confinement at the Monroe County Jail comply with the United States Constitution,” among other relief.
FOX59/CBS4 reached out to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office regarding this lawsuit. Officials with the office stated that they are “declining to comment on pending litigation.”
Read the full complaint here.
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