Ex-WLPD officer in court on charges from frat call

Jacob Forgey, the former West Lafayette police officer facing charges of counterfeiting and official misconduct, appeared in court for his initial hearing Friday morning.

Forgey, who was sworn into the force in June 2022 as one of its first additions in five years, resigned in March after a WLPD internal investigation of his body cam footage.

The charges stem from a November incident at the Kappa Sigma fraternity on 308 North St., West Lafayette. Forgey responded to a noise complaint along with three other WLPD officers, all of whom "recognized that some individuals were smoking marijuana on a balcony," according to the probable cause affidavit.

After the officers unsuccessfully tried to locate and identify the individuals on the balcony, Forgey allegedly produced a blank OWI search warrant from his patrol car and filled out the top of it, showing only the top to fraternity President Mark Tardy and saying, "Take a photo of that and send it to everyone right now."

About 10 minutes later, an individual brought a bong downstairs, but according to the court document, Forgey waited another 15 minutes for someone else he indicated he had seen smoking before saying, "I'm done waiting around, let's go get the kid."

Forgey went upstairs and, as the affidavit alleges, further entered the fraternity without obtaining the proper lawful authority to do so.

In a February interview with the Indiana State Police, Forgey admitted to filling out the warrant, saying he had done it as a "deception tactic." Forgey was asked whether a reasonable person would be led to believe by his actions that he had produced a lawful warrant, and Forgey "indicated that he thought it would."

Charges were filed April 29th.

Special prosecutor Rodney Cummings of Madison County was assigned the case. Friday's proceedings were short, with Forgey's attorney, Mason Riley, waiving "any form of reading."