LAFAYETTE, IN — Three people were charged Thursday with disorderly conduct for an April 5, 2025, fight during a protest against President Donald Trump.
Disorderly conduct is a Class B misdemeanor and carries a maximum sentence of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
No hearing dates have been scheduled in any of the cases.
Lake County deputy prosecutor Jovanni Miramontes was appointed special prosecutor in April 2025 because one of the people involved in the incidents is related to someone who works in Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Patrick Harrington’s office.
Miramontes filed charges Thursday — one day before she was ordered to appear in Tippecanoe Circuit Court for a status hearing because nothing had been filed in the case she was ordered to investigate. By filing the charges Thursday, Miramontes was not required to attend Friday morning’s status hearing.
The probable cause affidavit in each of the cases details how James A. Jordan, now 44, of the 800 block of North Jameson Street in Lebanon, was westbound on Columbia Street about 12:15 p.m. April 5, 2025. He intended to turn northbound onto Third Street, but protesters crossing the street blocked Jordan’s turn.
In an April 6, 2025, conversation through social media, Jordan told a friend he became angry when he saw a protester’s sign with burning Jews on it, saying 1930s Germany is happening today, according to prosecutors. In an April 5, 2025, conversation on social media, he wrote, “Yeah bro they blocked the road when I got out to get them out of the road I was headbutted. I then retrieved my firearm after they surrounded my truck.”
The probable cause affidavit states that Jordan became angry and got out of his truck to confront the protesters. Many protesters surrounded him, including Jeremy Wayne Marks, 37, of the 800 block of North Chauncey Avenue in West Lafayette, prosecutors said. Marks headbutted Jordan, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Jordan returned to his Ford F-150 and retrieved a rifle. He then returned to the crowd and continued to yell at the protesters. He also yelled for his wife, Jessica Dee Jordan, to call 911, which she did, according to prosecutors.
While Jordan retrieved his firearm, Marks faded into the crowd. Officers later found Marks at his home and arrested him after Marks admitted to headbutting James Jordan.
After James Jordan retrieved his firearm, cameras in the area showed that he kept the rifle at his side with the barrel pointing down, according to prosecutors.
Police detained James Jordan, putting him into a police car as they sorted out what happened. Once his account of the events were verified, he was driven a few blocks to where Jessica Jordan had moved the pickup truck to await her husband’s release, according to prosecutors.
Police arrested Marks on suspicion of battery on that day. He later posted bond and was released from jail. No formal battery charge has been filed.
Police searched James Jordan’s social media pages, which indicated he is in many pro-Trump groups. His social media included a photo of former President Joe Biden in a Nazi uniform with a Hitler-style mustache, and a meme of Simpson’s character Ralph Wiggum scratching a Swastika into a Tesla, according to prosecutors.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Prosecutor files misdemeanor charges against 3 people from 2025 protest
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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