Indiana State Police

Jose Fiscal Belli, a 32-year-old restaurant co-owner and Little League coach in Paris, Illinois, has been held in ICE custody since July 21 after Indiana State Police stopped him for a parking violation outside an Indianapolis government building and turned him over to federal agents. Fiscal Belli, brought to the U.S. from Mexico at 16, had a 2011 deportation order he says he didn't know about while pursuing legal status through marriage to his American wife. An immigration judge denied him bond despite no criminal record. The case has split the heavily pro-Trump town of about 8,000, where residents, local Republican officials, and the Democratic mayor have rallied to support him, raising funds and writing letters urging his release while he fights deportation from a Kentucky jail.

A 20-year-old Maryland man wanted on sex crime charges in Baltimore, Alexis Pinto, made his first court appearance in Marion County, Indiana, following a crash that left a 14-year-old girl with unsurvivable brain injuries. Indiana State Police say the pursuit began after license plate readers identified a stolen SUV, taken from Illinois, traveling on I-70. The suspect fled at speeds near 100 mph, eventually driving the wrong way on I-65. Troopers called off the chase for safety but tracked the vehicle via traffic cameras until it crashed into Fall Creek and submerged, trapping the teen inside.

Pinto was found swimming from the wreckage and arrested on auto theft, criminal recklessness, and resisting law enforcement charges. Authorities say Pinto and the victim, from New Jersey, had been on the run since April after a warrant was issued for an alleged sexual relationship dating to December. Pinto also faces detainers from Maryland and federal immigration authorities. Investigators dispute his claim that a cousin was driving. He is due back in court for an initial hearing after prosecutors sought additional time to file formal charges.

Indiana's congressional delegation and Gov. Mike Braun are pressing President Trump for major disaster declarations covering two separate severe weather events. The first request, submitted by Braun on Aug. 6 and now backed by both U.S. senators and all nine House members, addresses a June 6-26 outbreak of 58 tornadoes, a derecho, and flash flooding — Indiana's largest one-month tornado outbreak on record. That event killed two people, injured a dozen more, damaged over 1,200 structures, and displaced roughly 210 residents, with Lake County alone facing more than $33.9 million in infrastructure repairs.

Separately, storms and flooding beginning Aug. 11 have killed at least seven people, displaced over 1,000 residents, and prompted Trump to approve a Presidential Emergency Declaration. Braun has activated the National Guard, State Police, and other agencies, opened a $5,000 emergency aid grant program, and enabled emergency SNAP replacements. Officials are pursuing an additional major disaster declaration for the August storms to unlock federal individual assistance for uninsured and underinsured residents.