This and that: A windy Saturday edition
Trial set for ex-WL police officer instead of plea hearing. More on the Boilermaker Special crash. Dining Divas check out the Puerto Rican fare at Wepa! Café. And more
Support for this edition comes from Lafayette Master Chorale, presenting Handel’s Messiah at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at St. Boniface Church in Lafayette. Back by popular demand, a performance of Handel’s cherished oratorio returns to Lafayette once again. Celebrate Eastertide by hearing the greatest choral/orchestral masterpiece in history performed by the Lafayette Master Chorale, soloists and orchestra in the acoustically thrilling St. Boniface Church. From the lyrical solos to the rousing choruses, this performance promises a unique chance to hear this monumental work and all of its splendor. Tickets are adults $25/advance, $28/door; students $10; children under 18 free. Purchase tickets at https://www.lafayettemasterchorale.org/concerts-and-tickets.
Some notes – along with a tip on a restaurant to try – on a Saturday morning …
NO PLEA OFFERED, TRIAL SET FOR FORMER WLPD OFFICER: Initially set to enter a plea Friday morning in Tippecanoe Superior Court 4, Jacob Forgey was given a July court date in the former West Lafayette police officer’s felony charges for official misconduct and counterfeiting while on duty.
Judge Matt Sandy set a July 30 trial date in the case after special prosecutor Rodney Cummings, assigned to the case out of Madison County, and Forgey’s attorney Andrew Achey said they didn’t have a plea agreement to offer Friday morning.
Forgey was charged in April 2024 in connection with an October 2023 incident when he used a fake search warrant – one he filled out in his patrol car – after responding to a noise complaint at a Purdue fraternity house. According to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court, Forgey – a West Lafayette police officer hired in 2022 – told investigators that he filled out portions of a blank OWI search warrant to show to fraternity members as a deception tactic to get them to locate people police officers had seen smoking marijuana on a fraternity house balcony. After waiting for 15 minutes and not getting permission from fraternity members, according to court records, Forgey entered the fraternity house to find the person he’d seen on the balcony. According to court records, he did not have a valid search warrant to enter the house.
The charges came after West Lafayette police questioned Forgey in February 2024, after comparing his reports with footage from his body camera. Forgey resigned from the West Lafayette Police Department that same month. Prosecutors later said they dismissed charges in dozens of cases tied to Forgey.
If convicted, the charges, both considered Level 6 felonies, have potential sentences of six months to 2½ years in jail.
BLOWN TIRE STARTED FATAL CRASH INVOLVING BOILERMAKER SPECIAL, POLICE REPORT: A fatal crash Thursday sent Purdue’s mascot, the Boilermaker Special, across the median and into the path of another vehicle on U.S. 52 started when the truck modified to look like a train had a tire malfunction, Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office reported Friday.
Two Purdue students – Madison Cook, 20, of Noblesville, who was the driver; and passenger Taylor Melton, 22, of Rockport – were treated at a Lafayette hospital and released Thursday afternoon, according to the sheriff’s office. The driver of a vehicle who was hit on U.S. 52, near Wyandotte Road, was killed in the crash and, as of Friday afternoon, hadn’t been identified, police said.
For more, here’s a report from J&C reporter Ron Wilkins: “Police: Boilermaker Special's left front tire blew, causing fatal crash.”
DINING DIVAS AND DUDES: WEPA! CAFE
Dining Divas and Dudes is a team that has been reporting and rating new restaurants, hidden gems, international fare and updated menus from old favorites for years now via Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette at homeofpurdue.com. Here at Based in Lafayette, we feature some of Dining Divas and Dudes’ latest finds.
Recently, they took in Wepa! Cafe, a Puerto Rican restaurant opened recently at 513 Earl Ave. in Lafayette.
The upshot as the crew worked its way through the menu: “We'll be back for more mofongo moments at this cocina criolla gem! The Dining Divas & Dudes savored every bite.”
Read more from the full Dining Divas and Dudes review here: Sazón and Soul: Why WEPA Cafe is a Puerto Rican Gem
THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …
The Trump administration on Friday backed away from the recent waves of revoking student visas. What that will mean for individual cases – including those of six students studying at Purdue who are part of a federal lawsuit challenging their revoked status – wasn’t immediately clear. New York Times reporters Zach Montague and Hamed Aleaziz had this: “The Trump administration on Friday abruptly moved to restore thousands of international students’ ability to study in the United States legally, but immigration officials insisted they could still try to terminate that legal status despite a wave of legal challenges. The decision, revealed during a court hearing in Washington, was a dramatic shift by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, even as the administration characterized it as only a temporary reprieve.” For more: “U.S. Restores Legal Status for Many International Students, but Warns of Removals to Come.”
Among the last-minute moves during this General Assembly session, an effort to insert language into a bill that would have made it a Class C misdemeanor to sleep on public property – a move characterized as criminalizing homelessness, revived several times during the 2025 session – was stripped. State Sen. Ron Alting, a Lafayette Republican, had argued against the provision, echoing concerns raised locally about jailing people who were homeless. “This is a much larger issue than just arresting homeless people and incarcerating them. That is a terrible Band-Aid approach,” Alting said at the end of the session. “We are dealing with mental health issues, drug abuse, lack of housing and employment for these individuals. Often a majority are veterans, who served this great country of ours. Hoosiers are better than this. We need to continue to be compassionate and caring in helping those who are less fortunate.”
A debate over a late provision in the state budget bill that strips Indiana University alumni of the power to vote for some of the university’s trustees – giving that authority, instead, to the governor – got heated this week. Purdue wasn’t directly involved, but the conversation told a lot about the sentiment in the General Assembly for higher education in the state. Here’s a look via Indianapolis Star reporter Kayla Dwyer: “'Complete takeover': Lawmakers exert control over university policy in 11th hour.”
Speaking of the General Assembly’s sine die, the Indiana Capital Chronicle had this wrap-up on bills that made it through in the final days of the session: “Final legislative roundup includes health care, absenteeism and school accountability.”
For more on what’s in/what’s not in the next two-year state budget, here’s a look from Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Whitney Downard: “Republicans finalize $44 billion budget, while Democrats point to missed opportunities.”
Carroll County Superior Court – the one that hosted Richard Allen’s trial in 2024 in the murders of Delphi teens Abby Williams and Libby German – was spared in a bill that aimed to reduce the number of courts in some smaller Indiana counties. Indiana Capital Chronicle editor Niki Kelly had this: “Indiana lawmakers approve reduced court eliminations.”
More from court this week, J&C reporter Ron Wilkins covered the sentencing hearing for Kwame Riddle, convicting of stabbing and killing Terry Taylor in July 2024: “Man receives 25-year prison sentence for killing a friend during a fight on Briarwood Court.”
Thanks, again, for support from Lafayette Master Chorale, presenting Handel’s Messiah at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at St. Boniface Church in Lafayette. Get tickets and more information here.
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.