51 cases dismissed because of allegations of officer's 'embellished reports'

Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Discrepancies between former West Lafayette police officer Jake Forgey's written reports and his body-worn body camera led to his resignation in February, and so far, has resulted in 51 cases being dismissed.

In March, West Lafayette Police Chief Troy Harris described Forgey's reports, alleging that Forgey "misrepresented, embellished, and put words in people's mouths."

Forgey's involvement in any investigation taints the case, inviting those cases to be overturned should they be prosecuted or have been prosecuted.

Prosecutors responded Friday to a Journal & Courier request for public documents, which asked for itemized court cause numbers of cases that involved Forgey that have been dismissed so far.

Jake Forgey resigned from the West Lafayette Police Department on Feb. 20, 2024, after discrepancies were discovered between his reports and his body-worn video. Thirty-eight misdemeanor charges, 12 felony charges and one traffic citation were dismissed because of Forgey's involvement in those cases, according to documents provided by the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor's Office.

Thirty-eight misdemeanors, 12 low-level felonies and one traffic citation have been dismissed. Most of the cases were drunken- or impaired-driving cases. Some were resisting and drug possession charges.

Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Patrick Harrington did not comment Friday about Forgey or the circumstances surrounding the dismissals.

However, in March after news of Forgey's resignation broke, Harrington said: "The process of reviewing (Forgey's) cases has been thorough and time consuming. The result is many cases have been dismissed, both felony and misdemeanor.

"As Chief Harris stated, he asked us to review body camera video; and we reviewed several of the officer’s cases. Based upon our review, we have dismissed this officer’s cases where he was actively involved in the case investigation. We advised (West Lafayette police) of our decision. I thanked Chief Harris for his leadership and his department’s high standards."

Friday's release of the tally of dismissed cases might just scratch the surface.

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"Please note there may be additional cases not included in this list under a current diversion agreement which will be dismissed," Tippecanoe County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jason Bliss said Friday in the response to the Journal & Courier's request to inspect public documents.

Before being hired as a police officer on June 27, 2022, Forgey worked as a dispatcher.

In March after news broke about Forgey's Feb. 20 resignation, Harris said, "This is simply not the behavior our community expects. We can't hide behind mistakes like this," Harris said. "We don't enjoy our department having to go through this."

Reach Ron Wilkins or at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: 'Misrepresented, embellished' police reports results in 51 dismissals

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