Court finds Indy Prosecutor Ryan Mears “blatantly violated the Fourth Amendment”

**Nigel** (0:00)
Tamer and Nigel.

**Tamer** (0:01)
Do you believe these characters?

**Nigel** (0:03)
They're weirdos.
There's a huge story going on right now about this bar owner that owned a few bars in Broderable that I used to go to all the time. I probably paid for many vacations for Rob Sabatini, as much money as I spent in his establishments back in my 20s. He owned the trifecta, Rock Lobster, Mineshaft and Average Joe's. And so he had been in some trouble, at least from the outside looking in. But a court has found, a judge has found that Indy prosecutor Ryan Mears, quote, blatantly violated the Fourth Amendment. Now, if you don't know what the Fourth Amendment is, it's like, you know, a government can't usually search you or your home or your belongings or take your property without good reason. And in many cases, a warrant from a judge.

**Tamer** (0:59)
There's so much incompetence involved in this story we're about to tell you.

**Nigel** (1:03)
It's embarrassing.

**Tamer** (1:04)
There's a lot going on at the Marion County Prosecutor's Office. There's some going on at the Department of Revenue, like just some major league incompetence here. So Rob Sabatini was charged last June in Marion County with 27 felony counts for allegedly underreporting his sales from Mineshaft, Rock Lobster and Average Joe's, okay? The Prosecutor's Office alleged that Sabatini underreported by nearly $4 million and failed to pay over $350 grand in state taxes between 2020 and 2023
So at the time, Ryan Mears said there was a pattern of corruption, okay? That's the key phrase here. Pattern of corruption.
Well, now a Marion County judge is alleging that it was actually the Prosecutor's Office that was wrong in this case against Sabatini, and it's all been dismissed with prejudice. Judge Clark Rogers signed off on this 24-page document laying out how both the Prosecutor's Office and the Department of Revenue here in Indiana were conducting a, quote, fishing expedition that was unwarranted and not based upon evidence. Now here in just a moment, we're going to take you through some of the things that this court laid out, and you're going to do like the Frank Drebin face palm thing here.

**Nigel** (2:35)
And all the while, keep in mind, this is ruining people's lives and affecting their businesses and having to sell businesses that he's built for decades.

**Tamer** (2:46)
And this was all over the news, right? There's nothing worse than when a wrong story is all over the news. Trust me, I've been there when it comes to the Camp Atterbury stuff.
The court documents detail that testimony from two state employees involved in the investigation, Carmen Walker of the Prosecutor's Office and Rick Albrecht of the Department of Revenue are the two involved here. Walker reportedly said that in 2023, she was instructed by Ryan Mears to look into broad ripple businesses, look into tax records. Now, Nigel, if you remember around this time, that's when there were some violence going on in some of the broad ripple nightclubs. One high-profile place ultimately had to shut down.

**Nigel** (3:34)
Yeah, and all the ridiculous construction. And there was a lot of bar owners that were complaining about a lot of things and laying it at the feet of Mears.

**Tamer** (3:45)
So instead of locking up some of the lunatics involved in creating the ruckus and broad ripple, Ryan Mears in the prosecutor's office decided to go into bar owners and try to shake them down for money.
Court documents say that Ms. Walker had no reason to suspect that any broad ripple business owner had committed any crime. So here's what she did, and this is in the report. She reportedly searched online and used Yelp, among some other search engine things, to just arbitrarily select 11 businesses in broad ripple.

**Nigel** (4:23)
Yelp?

**Tamer** (4:24)
Yelp, including the three owned by Sabatini. So she just went to Yelp, was looking for broad ripple businesses. Oh, let's try to shake down this guy.
She then contacted the Indiana Department of Revenue and requested tax return information, stating that it was for a criminal investigation that was supported by prosecutor Ryan Mears. So she goes to Yelp just out of left field says, how about these people? And then the Department of Revenue says, sure. Walker said that because she had no evidence of a crime and could not secure a warrant, could not secure a warrant. She instead reached out directly to the Indiana Department of Revenue for tax info court documents state that despite lacking a basic understanding of business practices and a warrant, Walker found no evidence despite lacking evidence.

**Nigel** (5:25)
These are the people that are handling your money and your taxes.