FBI searches home of man who once declared candidacy for Evansville mayor

The FBI searched the Indianapolis home of a former congressional candidate with Evansville ties on Wednesday, though it's unclear why.

The agency confirmed to IndyStar that it executed a search warrant at a house where public records show Gabe Whitley lives — news first reported by IndyPolitics. There is no indication anyone was arrested, the IndyStar reported.

Whitley, who ran in the Republican primary in Indiana's 7th Congressional District, declined to comment when approached by an IndyStar reporter at the home. Whitley previously declared his candidacy for mayor in Evansville but never actually mounted a campaign. The local Republican Party kept him off the ballot in 2022 when he tried to run for a state representative spot.

Bobby Kern, who also lives at the home and ran for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor this month, told IndyStar that agents searched the home Wednesday morning and confiscated Whitley's devices. The FBI neither confirmed nor denied that.

Whitley did post to Facebook later in the day, writing that he was "ok" and would make "an appropriate statement when the time is right."

"It's a on going investigation about corruption happening in our community," he said. "Thank you for our wonderful law enforcement doing their job."

Whitley has been in the news multiple times while mounting his political campaigns, including this year when complaints filed with the Federal Election Commission accused him of filing excessive campaign contributions and fraudulent donors during his congressional run.

Whitley's campaign finance records were the subject of a Courier & Press investigation last year. In early 2022, he filed an annual report with the Indiana Elections Division showing him raising more than $15,000 for an exploratory committee the year before, with some donors giving him hundreds – and in one case, thousands – of dollars at a time.

But there was a problem: Several of the donors listed told the Courier & Press they had no memory of ever giving Whitley money. Some said they didn't even know who he was.

They also lived hundreds of miles away. The only donor listed on the report with an Evansville address was Whitley himself. Others hailed from far-flung locations such as New York, California and Utah, among others.

In January 2023, Whitley denied any wrongdoing and told Courier & Press reporters he had hired a "consulting firm" to handle campaign fundraising. He couldn't remember the name, though, and his 2022 annual report didn't show any payouts to a consulting firm.

"A lot of people donate to fundraising things," he said at the time. "We sent out emails. That's all we did. We sent out emails."

A little more than a month after that investigation published, Whitley filed a lawsuit against the Courier & Press, USA Today and reporter Thomas B. Langhorne in U.S. District Court. Alleging slander, he sought more than $14 million in damages and an apology article.

Judge Sarah Evans Barker dismissed the complaint without prejudice on Nov. 11 "for lack of jurisdiction."

In May, Whitley lost the 7th Congressional District primary to Jennifer Pace despite the fact that she died after filing her candidacy and before the primary. A caucus of party insiders selected her replacement on the ballot, John Schmitz, whose campaign sign is in Whitley's lawn in Indianapolis.