Indianapolis teen Jalen Helm, 19, has been charged with a slew of felonies and misdemeanors following the organization and promotion of multiple illegal parties throughout 2023. These parties have been linked to incidents including a deadly shooting that claimed the life of a 16-year-old, Kalin Washington, and left nine others injured. According to a report by FOX59, Helm is facing two counts of corrupt business influence, reckless homicide, identity deception, and several other charges.
Marion County Prosecutor, Ryan Mears, highlighted the gravity of these events in an interview with WISH-TV. "When you have parties and you are inviting people to use drugs, use alcohol, to create a space for people that are underage to do all of those things, and then you introduce and allow guns to be there, it shouldn’t be a surprise to many people that violence was going to result, and in one of these cases, somebody lost their life." Hosting at least eight illegal parties between June and October, Helm allegedly promoted these gatherings through social media, targeted predominantly at young people.
Furthermore, Helm is accused of having used stolen credit card information to finance the parties. Mears provided additional comments to FOX59, stating, "We also saw a number of instances where people’s credit card information was being bought and sold. We saw money change in hand over CashApp for different things."
Investigators pointed out Helm’s method of illicit funding, revealing that he took photos of customers’ credit and debit cards while working at the drive-thru at Taco Bell, later using those numbers to purchase party supplies. Despite these allegations, the implicated individual, Helm, expected to appear in court for an initial hearing on Tuesday, is yet to respond publicly to the charges, according to WTHR. In a chain of events where armed guests were knowingly let into the premises and narcotics and alcohol were allegedly supplied by Helm to the underage attendees.
