INDIANAPOLIS — A grand jury in Marion County is taking a closer look into allegations within Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith’s office.
A report filed by the Marion County Grand Jury confirms the grand jury heard testimony on Aug. 18 and Sept. 30 “in the original investigation into the distribution of an intimate image(s) and ghost employment in the office of the Indiana lieutenant governor.”
No additional details have yet to be provided on the specifics of the grand jury’s hearings, as the files are currently under seal. If charges are filed in relation to the grand jury investigation, these files would then be unsealed.
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The grand jury’s report is the first mention of allegations of ghost employment within Beckwith’s office. Ghost employment is most often used as a term for payroll fraud. A public servant can also be charged with ghost employment as a Level 6 felony for assigning employees duties not related to their government position.
The allegations of distribution of intimate images within Beckwith’s office stem from a previously reported claim that staffers within Beckwith’s office had been sharing an AI pornographic deepfake video of a state representative’s wife.
First reported by 24sight News, the alleged deepfake video was modified from an existing video of the wife of State Rep. Craig Haggard (R-Indianapolis). A former adviser within the Beckwith office spoke on WIBC’s Kendall and Casey show and claimed to have seen Beckwith staffers sharing this video around the office.
She called the atmosphere in Beckwith’s office a “frat house” that was “very immature.”
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Haggard acknowledged he’s not seen the alleged pornographic AI video but wants those responsible to be held accountable should the video exist.
“I know we need to get to the bottom of it,” Haggard said. “If true, this is a very, very serious allegation. I mean, it’s a federal crime.”
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office announced in August that they were looking into the allegations.
Beckwith, meanwhile, has dismissed the allegations and likened the accusations to having “the characteristics of a witch hunt.”
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“As I started going down this process, there was nothing there, and I realized, do we have a video? Does anyone have—no, there’s no video,” Beckwith said. “I couldn’t find a video. I couldn’t find anyone who’s ever seen the video, and I quickly realized, okay, this has really got all the characteristics of a witch hunt.”
Beckwith said his office hasn’t used any sort of forensic auditing software to check for deleted videos on employees’ cell phones and computers during its internal investigation. Beckwith also said his office did not bring in a cybersecurity expert to conduct an independent forensic audit.
“We didn’t bring in a third party out to come in and do an investigation, and here’s why: because the principle of the matter to me is I’m not going to let one allegation from one person dictate what we do in the office,” Beckwith said. “I’m not going to set the precedent that all someone has to do is make up a baseless claim, and then we have to spend taxpayer resources, spend our time, put everything on hold in our office to then go through some kind of third-party investigation.”
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Beckwith’s downplaying of the culture within his own office stands in stark contrast to the mounting criticism Republicans, including Beckwith, have leveled against Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration amid ties to the sexual harassment investigation of Hogsett’s one-time deputy mayor.
When asked about the grand jury investigation, Beckwith’s office replied with the following statement:
“Active grand juries are confidential; therefore, the office has no knowledge of any of this.”
