(Dearborn County, IN) – Two men are facing charges in Dearborn County for allegedly running a juvenile fight club.
Damien Foster of Aurora and Nolan Roberts of Cincinnati are charged with Failure to Obtain a Gaming License (Class B misdemeanor).
The stem from a tip the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Office received on October 23 from the Hamilton County (Ohio) Sheriff’s Office, alleging that an 8th grader at East Central Middle School was participating in fights that were occurring in the Sunman area.
ln addition to the tip the Sheriff’s Office received, an lndiana Gaming Commission Officer received a complaint from a concerned citizen on October 24 about a “fight club” with juveniles actively participating in fights. The gaming officer reviewed eight videos that were captured from YouTube and observed young people, some believed to be under the age of 18 as well as adults who were participating in fighting matches.
During an interview with investigators, a 14-year-old East Central Middle School student informed them that he was the young man in one of the videos, and that he took part in fight on October 18 and was injured in the boxing match.
Investigators reviewed the YouTube videos and were able to identify the location of where the fights took place, which was the area of Schwipps and Chalk roads. After driving by the area, the metal cage in the videos was still present in the field.
They were also able to identify in the videos Foster and Roberts as the ones allegedly involved in conducting and promoting the boxing matches.
“The videos online that capture these alleged crimes are very disturbing to say the least. They show young people, some of whom appear to be juveniles, engaging in brawls, sometimes with adults. At least one participant was a 14-year-old child,” said Dearborn County Prosecutor Lynn Deddens. “Unfortunately, according to the law these crimes are only Class B misdemeanors and will remain that way until the lndiana Legislature addresses the issue of unlicensed fights involving children. Until such time, we will use the tools we do have to prosecute individuals involved in events of this nature to the fullest extent allowed by law.”
Both Foster and Roberts have received their initial hearings, where bond was set at $5,000.00 cash.
Their next court date is a pre-trial hearing set for December 4.
