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SCATHING REBUKE: Judge outlines multiple violations by Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears

Is the Court saying actions of Prosecutor are a Crime⁉️

What happens now?

What is the Recourse and the Due Process for all involved (including the Public)?

Never seen anything like it. pic.twitter.com/5vkPzLsoyb

— Rick Snyder (@RickFOP86) July 16, 2026

🚨 A Marion County judge just slammed Ryan Mears’ office for conducting a warrantless, suspicionless fishing expedition through the confidential tax records of local businesses.

The findings are damning and Mears himself could be in big trouble 🧵

According to the judge’s order, Mears personally told an investigator with his office to “look into Broad Ripple businesses.”

The investigator then selected 11 businesses using online searches and Yelp — all without any evidence or individualized suspicion that a crime had even occurred. 

The investigator then sent letters to the Indiana Department of Revenue claiming each business was the subject of an active criminal investigation.

The judge found no investigation ever existed.

The letters had Ryan Mears’ electronic signature. 

Those false representations allowed the Prosecutor’s Office to obtain confidential state and federal tax information involving business owners, shareholders, employees and officers.

That initial review produced no articulable evidence of criminal activity. But they kept going anyway. 

The investigator later submitted sworn affidavits seeking additional records.

The judge found those affidavits contained “false and misleading statements” and that, once those statements were removed, there was zero basis for the subpoenas or probable cause. 

The Prosecutor’s Office also publicly filed confidential tax-return information without redactions.

As judge pointed out, the public disclosure of state tax information is a crime under Indiana law and that unauthorized disclosure of federal return information can be a federal offense. 

None of this was not a minor technical violation.

The judge called the conduct “blatantly unconstitutional,” suppressed the evidence, and dismissed the entire case with prejudice. 

There is a big chance the judge’s findings will lead to attorney-discipline proceedings against Mears and the attorneys on this case, civil lawsuits, and an investigation of unauthorized tax disclosures. 

To be clear, the order does not yet establish that Mears personally knew about or approved every false representation, affidavit, and public disclosure.

But it raises a lot of questions about what he authorized, what he knew, and what he did once his office’s conduct came to light. 

Prosecutors wield enormous power over the lives, liberty and reputations of citizens.

When a court finds that power was used to conduct suspicionless searches, submit false or misleading affidavits, and expose confidential tax records, there has to be accountability. 

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