Police won't file charges against Indy Councilor Nick Roberts after sexual assault accusation

Indianapolis Star

3 days ago

Fishers police have decided not to file charges against Indianapolis City-County Councilor Nick Roberts after a younger woman accused him of sexual assault.
An 18-year-old woman alleged that Roberts, 24, groped her during a kiss while she tried to push him away during a July 12 date in downtown Fishers, she told IndyStar in an interview after the allegations were made public by Mirror Indy. Roberts has admitted that he kissed her but denied her account of the events, insisting he did "absolutely nothing wrong."
The case was closed the morning of July 30 and Roberts faces no charges, said Angela Adle, a records manager for the Fishers Police Department. IndyStar has filed a public records request for the department's full report on the alleged incident but has not yet received the documents.
Roberts, a Democrat representing northeast Marion County who took office in January 2024, said he fully cooperated with the police investigation and is pleased with the outcome.
"As I had expected and hoped, the Fishers Police Department, because of their thorough investigation and after looking at all the evidence and facts, have closed the case against me and are not pressing charges," Roberts said in a written statement. "The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind and I am very grateful to law enforcement for looking into serious issues like this and for their professionalism throughout the process. I look forward to continuing my work in the city and serving our district as we enter our budget season."
The woman's allegation was first reported by Mirror Indy on July 29. In a July 30 phone interview with IndyStar, the woman reiterated her accusations and called the police department's decision a "letdown." IndyStar does not normally name people who say they are victims of sexual assault.
"I knew that there wasn't much that could be done, period, considering there was no witness proof or video proof," said the woman. "It's just been my word against his since the beginning."
The allegation against Roberts — lauded by the Indiana Democratic Party as the youngest councilor to win in any major American city in 2023 after his election at just 23 years old — is the latest in a series of sexual misconduct claims made against men involved in city and state government. Most recently, City-County Councilor Keith Graves was accused of physical and sexual assault by a woman 30 years younger than him, according to an IndyStar investigation.
Council Democrats have promised to spearhead reforms to the city's sexual harassment policies and reporting systems, including an overhaul of the human resources department and the creation of an inspector general to independently investigate alleged policy violations.
Roberts and the woman, who graduated from high school this May, agreed to meet for a first date on July 5 after they matched on the dating app Hinge. After a kiss on their second date a week later in Fishers, the woman filed a police report that same night, she told IndyStar.
Both say the first date went well. As they prepared to leave a café in Carmel, Roberts hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. The woman later texted him to say "I especially appreciate the kiss on the cheek," and that she wanted to meet up again soon, according to text messages obtained by IndyStar.
"You can get another (and maybe more) next time," Roberts responded, by which he says he meant a kiss on the lips.
After two hours had passed, the woman replied, "I hope so, I'd like that:)."
She told IndyStar that Roberts' comment had made her uncomfortable, and she had been taken aback by the initial kiss on the cheek. She said she is unfamiliar with dating norms because she was homeschooled and "very sheltered" throughout her teenage years, so she followed his lead.
They met a week later, on July 12, for an ice cream date followed by an evening walk along the Nickel Plate Trail in downtown Fishers. She heard no "red flags" during the initial conversation, she said.
But during the walk, the woman says that Roberts pulled her off onto a side trail, where he began kissing and groping her while she pushed him away and told him to stop. She claims he grabbed her breasts and her butt and held onto her tightly. He eventually loosened his grip, she said, apparently because someone walked by along the main trail.
"He suggested that we have a kiss, but he said it and then it all happened," the woman said. "He didn't give me time to think and so I couldn't do anything. And even if I did have time to think, I'm a freezer and so I wouldn't have been able to do anything."
Roberts denies her account of those events, he said. He said he kissed her for only a few seconds and put his hands on her hips.
"During the kiss, she did not push me away or ask me to stop," Roberts said in a written statement. "If she had done either, I would have stopped immediately. We then walked for approximately another 30 minutes, and we had a conversation with nothing out of the ordinary."
The two walked back to their cars, where Roberts said "she leaned in so I could give her a kiss on her cheek and we said goodnight." The woman says Roberts never hugged her or kissed her at the end of that second date because she stepped back from his attempts.
When the woman got home, she says she broke down. Her stepmother encouraged her to call police. Roberts said that officers showed up to his home that same night to pursue her allegations.
This story will be updated.