Joe Hogsett Prosecuting Men Involved In International Child Pedophile Ring

Peter Truong (left) and Mark Newton (right) with sexually exploited son they adopted

It's unclear why this case is being handled by U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett in the Southern District of Indiana, but this past week Hogsett's office announced sentencing of 42-year old Mark J. Newton for his role in purchasing a young boy from a Russian surrogate mother and then exploiting him as part of an international child pedophile ring known as Boy Lovers. Judge Sarah Evans Barker sentenced Newton to 40 years in prison, who along with his gay lover Peter Truong, had sexually exploited the boy since he was two years of age.

These vile creatures traveled throughout the world with their young boy and allowed him to be filmed while being sexually abused by other child pedophiles. Judge Barker said Newton deserved a tougher sentence, but she didn't want to subject jurors to the horrifying facts of the case. Initially, the AP said it wouldn't release the men's name in order to protect the identity of the boy.

"This is not a case that lends itself to easy understanding," Barker said during the hearing.

In a quaking voice, the shackled man stood before Barker and apologized, saying "being a father was an honor and a privilege that amounted to the best six years of my life."

"I'm deeply sorry," he added. "And I regret any harm I caused to my son or anyone else."

"Words don't help," Barker responded. "What can be said? What can be done to erase some of the horror of this?"

The judge noted that the man, who has dual U.S.-Australian citizenship, and his Australian domestic partner went to great lengths to "acquire" an infant from a mother in an unspecified foreign country and brainwashed him into thinking the abuse he endured was normal.

Federal prosecutor Steve DeBrota said the crimes occurred in Australia, the U.S, France and Germany. Two other boys were also abused, prosecutors said, though no details were released.

DeBrota said evidence showed at least eight men had sexually abused the boy, including one in Illinois and one in Florida, though other details weren't released.

The man also was ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution to the boy; the man's partner also has been convicted, according to prosecutors, but has not yet been sentenced.

Monica Foster, chief public defender for the Southern Indiana U.S. District, declined comment following the hearing.

Foreign news reports provide more information on the global pedophile ring than U.S. media. The boy's Russian mother sold him to a member of Boy Lovers, back in 2000 for $8,000. Newton adopted the boy with his Australian domestic partner, Peter Truong. News reports indicate that the boy grew up believing that sexual exploitation and abuse was a part of normal life. Police in Queensland unraveled the case when they arrested another child pedophile, who had photos of the boy and his parents on his computer. Examining Internet chat discussions, police in Australia were able to determine that Newton and Truong were the boy's parents. The two left Australia bound for the US in October, 2011 before police could apprehend them. Queensland police alerted U.S. authorities, who raided the men's Los Angeles home in February of last year and placed the young boy in the care of child protective services.

Initially, Newton and Truong insisted they were being targeted by authorities because they were homosexuals. US Postal service inspectors were investigating the Boy Lovers network, and images and video of the boy turned up in that investigation. The two had meticulously encrypted information on their computer hard drives, but Truong, who is still awaiting sentencing, eventually began cooperating with police and provided them password information to access the incriminating evidence.

There is still no explanation why their cases are being prosecuted in Indianapolis by Hogsett's office. According to news reports, two other men, American residents John R Powell, 41, a Florida-based lawyer, and Jason Bettuo, a 36-year-old Michigan tennis coach, have also been charged. According to Hogsett,  Newton and Truong travelled to San Francisco to meet with Powell and Bettuo who filmed themselves having sex with the boy. Powell had also travelled to the couple's home in Australia earlier to do the same.

"Personally.. I think this is probably the worst (pedophile) rings.. if not the worst ring I've ever heard of,’’ USPIS Investigator Brian Bone said. “For more than one year and across three continents, these men submitted this young child to some of the most heinous acts of exploitation this child has ever seen,’’ Mr Hogsett said after the court hearing.

Mark and Peter have claimed that Mark is the biological father of the boy born to the Russian mother, who acted as a surrogate. They claim the mother turned the child over to them when he was five years old; however, prosecutors found evidence the two had exploited him as early as age two. It is unclear where the two men found the money to live a lifestyle that allowed them to travel the world. “There was no real money trail that indicates they are in a form of employment that would sustain the lifestyle they’ve had and you can draw your own conclusion with respect to the amount of travel they’ve done and where they’ve been and the purpose of that travel,” Insp Rouse said.

It is interesting that a multi-millionaire Indianapolis businessman with ties to Indiana's top Democrats, Joe Miller, committed suicide in August, 2010. Various theories have circulated about the reason for his decision to abruptly end his life. Miller's Great Lakes Products illegally marketed and sold poppers around the world, a recreational drug inhalant popular in the gay community. There were some indications that his business had been raided by the feds. There are conflicting reports on the reason for the raid, which has never been acknowledged by any law enforcement agency. One friend says Miller feared he was about to be prosecuted as a pedophile, while others think his popper business was under investigation. A source close to Miller claimed he sold his popper business shortly before killing himself. Before his death, Miller split his time between a home in downtown Indianapolis and a second home in Los Angeles. Sources claim Miller, who enjoyed frequent international travel, preyed on young boys in third world countries. The circumstances surrounding Miller's illicit activities and death were completely covered up by local news media in Indianapolis.

Miller was a known pedophile who was arrested back in the 1970s for having sex with two young Johnson Co. boys while he was employed as a grand jury bailiff by former Marion Co. Prosecutor James Kelley, who Miller claimed to police had hired and used him as his personal Greek slave. Miller, who was in his 20s at the time, claimed that he traveled around the country and to Canada with Kelley on sex-filled trips. In his book, "Deadline: Indianapolis," former Indianapolis Star reporter Dick Cady said Miller was known as a chicken hawk because of his taste for young boys.

The pedophile charges against Miller were dropped after the boys' parents refused to let them cooperate in the case. Miller's business partner, a former Eli Lilly employee who provided the recipe and process for manufacturing the poppers sold by Miller's business, at the time had also been linked to a male prostitution service that exploited runaway gay youths, which went by the name Rent-A-Man.

Kelley did not seek re-election as prosecutor in 1978 after the Indianapolis Star disclosed that he had been present at a party in Woodruff Place where three gay men who worked at an Indianapolis gay bar, Deja Vu, were later found shot to death that same night in a field up in Hamilton County. Kelley had asked a roommate of one of the men to lie to police about his presence at the party on the fateful night. At the time of the killings, Miller's poppers were being manufactured in a back room at the Deja Vu night club. It is believed that authorities agreed not to press further investigation of Kelley after Miller had provided damaging information about his relationship with him to police. Kelley agreed not to seek re-election and moved to Washington, D.C. after leaving office where he worked as an attorney for the federal government.

Prominent members of the Indianapolis community, including former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and socialite Bren Simon, attended a memorial service held in honor of Miller's life at which former Gov. Joe Kernan delivered a eulogy. Kernan told of travelling with Miller to Vietnam where Kernan had once been held as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In September, 2009, Indiana Stonewall Democrats honored Miller at a reception held at the home of former Indianapolis City-County Councilor Jackie Nytes, who now runs the Indianapolis library. Joe Hogsett, a friend of Miller, attended the reception along with a number of other prominent local Democrats.

It's interesting that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the end to the adoption of Russian children by American citizens. If this sort of thing is happening to adopted children, you can't blame him for not wanting Russian children adopted by American citizens.

Kravitz Dares Question Caldwell's Actions While Working With Penn State's Sandusky

The horrifying details of the serial sexual abuse of young boys by Penn State's former football coach Jerry Sandusky documented in a Pennsylvania grand jury report has shaken up the entire university establishment at Penn State, including its highly-revered head football coach, Joe Paterno, who was unceremoniously fired late last night before season's end for his gross negligence in failing to protect young boys under Sandusky's supervision while on university grounds. Students at Penn State went on a rampage after his firing was announced and rioted. Indianapolis Colts Coach Jim Caldwell worked under Paterno with Sandusky over a six-year period as a fellow assistant coach. The criminal charges against Sandusky include incidents dating back as far as 1994, just two years after Caldwell left Penn State. Star columnist Bob Kravitz once again demonstrates why he stands heads and shoulders above the mediocrity that pervades the Indianapolis' Star reporting and editorial staff with a blistering column on the subject that dares to question Caldwell's actions in the matter:

By the time somebody at Penn State did the right thing, it was too late.

Too late to save football coach Joe Paterno from the indignity of being fired.

Too late for the university to salvage a hint of self-respect.

Too late -- far too late -- to save so many young boys, all of them victims of suspected pedophile Jerry Sandusky, from the singular horror of sexual abuse.

Isn't it amazing how quickly Penn State moved when it was its reputation on the line? Where was this sense of outrage, this moral direction, when there were reports of an assistant coach doing illicit things with young boys in the Penn State football locker room? . . .

For Colts coach Jim Caldwell, it's hard to know what to think or to say, at least publicly. He was an assistant coach under Paterno from 1986-92, and was on the same staff with Sandusky, who retired in 1999. Like so many people inside and outside of football, he reveres Paterno.

"I'm in prayer for the young people involved -- young men now -- I certainly feel for them,'' Caldwell said earlier Wednesday, when it appeared Paterno would retire at season's end. ". . . I'm very close to coach Paterno, and if things do end this year, it's just tough to see his legacy end this way.''

It really is amazing just how many people turned a blind eye towards Sandusky's pedophilia. There really are no reasonable excuses for the years of inaction by Sandusky's colleagues and superiors at the university. From reading the grand jury report, it almost appeared that Sandusky was begging to be caught given his willingness to rape young boys in the showers, locker rooms and other athletic facilities at the university. It's also hard to believe that Sandusky woke up one day after reaching the age of 50 and began having sex with underage boys. Chances are very good that he began plying his sexual perversion at a much younger age. Some have observed that he had been highly sought as a head coach prior to the first known allegations back in 1998 after which the offers suddenly dried up. The number of boys victimized by Sandusky over the years could reach into the dozens. The grand jury investigation describes crimes he committed against eight young boys.

Former Star columnist Dick Cady discusses in his book, "Deadline: Indianapolis", how a young Joe Miller, who was on the government's payroll at one time as the grand jury bailiff for former Marion Co. Prosecutor James Kelley, was known as a chicken hawk because of his taste for young boys. According to a retired vice officer with the Indianapolis Police Department, a twenty-something Miller told police investigators in a sworn statement after he had been charged with molesting two Johnson Co. boys that Kelley had employed him in return for sexual favors he provided to him, describing himself as a young Greek slave boy purchased by Kelley at an auction. Based on the accounts of those who knew him, Miller's proclivity for seeking out underage boys for sex continued throughout his adult life, even after he managed to wiggle out of the charges of molesting two teen-aged boys back in the 1970s. One source says Miller turned to vulnerable young boys in impoverished foreign nations to satisfy his urges after he became a wealthy businessman. Some of Indiana's most prominent elected officials, community and business leaders warmly embraced Miller despite common knowledge among them of his taste for having sex with underage boys. Miller committed suicide last year at age 59, suggesting he may have had a conscience after all, even if it never fazed the prominent people who showed up at his memorial service to glorify his life. Perhaps Joe Paterno is no different than some of Indiana's most prominent citizens when it comes to turning a blind eye to pedophiles.

UPDATE: Yikes, check out this story suggesting that Sandusky and the Second Mile nonprofit at which he volunteered to help at-risk youth was actually pimping the young boys out to donors. It also suggests a cover-up was agreed upon in exchange for Sandusky's resignation from Penn State.

UPDATE II: It gets even more bizarre. The DA, Ray Gricar, who failed to prosecute Sandusky disappeared in 2005 and was later declared dead even though his body was never recovered.

Joe Miller May Have Died From Inhaling Poppers

In an ironic twist in the mysterious death of prominent Indianapolis businessman and philanthropist Joe Miller,Advance Indiana has learned from a Marion County Coroner's Office spokeswoman that an autopsy determined the cause of his death was "asphyxiation due to nitrogen inhalation." Miller had earned a reputation as the world's largest distributor of poppers, a nitrate-based chemical that he manufactured at a plant in Indianapolis and distributed throughout the world in small glass bottles for illicit recreational drug use during sex for the euphoric rush it provided when inhaled by humans. Miller primarily marketed poppers to a gay audience, who purchased them in adult bookstores and gay clubs or over the Internet. Poppers were manufactured in varying forms of alkyl nitrates, including amyl, butyl and isopropyl nitrate compounds. Miller marketed the chemical substance under trade names Rush, Quicksilver and Jungle Juice, among others. Online forensic reports have documented cases of asphyxiation due to nitrogen inhalation in a number of reported suicide and accidental death cases.

Miller was found dead at his luxury condominium in Downtown Indianapolis along the canal last August by one of his personal attorneys at the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg according to one of Miller's friends. Fellow blogger Ruth Holladay first reported his death after learning from a close friend of Miller that he had taken his own life. The Indianapolis Star briefly posted an online story reporting his death and attributing the suspected cause of his death to suicide but pulled the story a short time after it appeared. No other mainstream news organizations in Indianapolis have reported on his death other than a paid obituary that appeared in the Star. Many prominent friends of Miller, including former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, later gathered at the Indianapolis Repertory Theater for a memorial service held in honor of his life. Former Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan, who described himself as a close friend of Miller, spoke at the memorial service as did Sheila Kennedy, a former executive director of the ACLU of Indiana on whose board Miller served before his death. Miller was one of the largest contributors to the Democratic Party and its candidates in recent years, contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars. He also contributed generously to organizations that provided services to those suffering from HIV/AIDS, including the Damien Center in Indianapolis, which named its testing center after him.

Friends of Miller, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said his popper business had been under investigation by the government and had been raided shortly before his body was discovered. According to one source, federal investigators hauled away computers and other records from his home and businesses. Websites promoting his popper products went dark soon thereafter and businesses that sold his product told customers it was no longer able to stock the product because the government had shut down the manufacturer's business after a raid. To date, no government agency has acknowledged such a raid occurred and no news media reports have confirmed from government sources the raid occurred. A claim filed against the estate opened in the Marion Co. Probate Court by Miller's attorneys, however, confirms work had been performed for him related to an investigation involving his popper business. Attorneys for Barnes & Thornburg, which also opened Miller's estate with the probate court, filed a claim for more than $46,000 for legal services it described as "Pac West Distribution Investigation" that were performed prior to his death. Pac West distributed the popper products Miller's Great Lakes Products company manufactured.

One Miller friend said he had complained to him about financial woes a short time prior to his death, although many believed he had amassed a sizable fortune from his very profitable, if illicit, business. Oddly, the Indianapolis Business Journal received a letter to the editor from Miller just days before his reported suicide that the business newspaper ran after his death without ever mentioning the prominent businessman had died. In the letter, Miller took issue with a story the IBJ had published suggesting the museums on the canal near where he lived failed to generate sufficient foot traffic on the canal. The letter showed no signs of a man in distress; rather, it depicted someone with a positive view of the neighborhood in which he lived. Documents filed by attorneys in his estate case indicate his estate is solvent. A rather odd claim filed against the estate included one filed by the Indiana Historical Society, which claimed Miller had not fulfilled $96,000 of the $120,000 he had pledged to the nonprofit organization. Ruschman Fine Arts filed a $15,000 claim for three pieces of art work it claimed Miller had not paid for. Stephen Cranfill of Bionic Cat filed a $2,800 claim for computer work it had performed for Miller that remained unpaid. The law firm of Wooden & McLaughlin also filed a claim for $2,100 in unpaid legal services it said it had rendered to him to enforce a loan agreement with Lee Alig, who is the CEO of Mansur Real Estate Services.

Miller's very simply-worded and short will left everything to his brother, Charles Miller of Ninevah, Indiana, who he also appointed to serve as his estate's personal representative. Court filings did not indicate an inventory of his estate has been filed as of last week, but it is likely most of his estate passed through a trust fund he had established. His downtown condominium, according to records on file with the assessor's office list its owner as the Joseph F. Miller Family Trust. The property is very conservatively assessed at a value of $367,100. One of Miller's friends described the finely appointed home as being equipped with a sophisticated surveillance system and high-tech gadgets straight out of a James Bond movie. The friend said Miller had surveillance cameras outside and throughout the home.

Miller had boasted in the past that he was the largest manufacturer of poppers in the world and spent more money advertising in publications marketed to gay men than any other business. Poppers first became popular among gay men in disco clubs back in the 1970s. When the HIV/AIDS epidemic first hit America's gay population in the early 1980s, a number of medical researchers first believed poppers caused the virus that was killing so many gay men because so many of the disease's victims admitted regularly using poppers. Miller's company had actually promoted the use of poppers by gay men as a healthy way of living. Miller countered the research linking the connection between HIV/AIDS with research he funded with his own resources to prove there was no causal connection. The CDC later agreed poppers didn't cause HIV/AIDS but also believed the recreational use of the drug was a co-factor in causing many of the diseases that commonly affected those infected with the virus, particularly Kaposi's Sarcoma, a rare form of skin cancer that began appearing in many HIV-infected gay men. Medical researchers generally agree that continual use of the chemical substance adversely affects the body's immune system. When combined with other sex-enhancement drugs, such as Viagra, Levitra or Cialis, it can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure causing death. Gay men were warned not to combine the use of the two drugs after many gay men began dying after Viagra first hit the market and became a popular recreation drug. Miller frequently sparred with critics of his product over the years. Most gay publications ceased advertising his products as their controversial use grew.

A high-level IMPD official told Advance Indiana that local police knew nothing about any ongoing investigation of Miller or his businesses. A former police officer with the department told quite a different tale of Miller from days gone by. According to a source who once worked vice for the Indianapolis Police Department, Miller had become a person of interest in an investigation of a male prostitution business known as Rent-A-Man back in the 1970s. The former vice officer said IPD had been investigating a male prostitution ring that had been exploiting young run-away males to provide sex-for-money services to local men, including some prominent Indianapolis businessmen. Miller became a person of interest to IPD after Johnson County officials arrested him on charges of molesting two underage males ages 14 and 15. Although Johnson County officials eventually dropped the charges after the boys' parents refused to let them cooperate in the investigation for fear of the long-term harm the publicity of a trial would cause them, Marion County officials didn't give up. Ann DeLaney, who handled sex crimes for the Marion County Prosecutor's Office refiled charges against Miller.

The former vice officer told how Miller had signed a sworn confession to police during questioning stating that he had been given a job as the grand jury bailiff by former Marion Co. Prosecutor James Kelley (D) in consideration for sexual favors he performed for Kelley. According to the investigator, Miller passed a polygraph exam with flying colors. Kelley had been at odds with IPD's brass at the time because of a special unit he had formed to investigate corruption in the police department, which had been well-documented in a series of Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporting by the Indianapolis Star as documented in one of the reporter's recently-released book, "Deadline: Indianapolis" authored by Dick Cady. Cady interviewed Miller, who he said told him some very interesting stories. Cady recounted that Miller was known as a chicken hawk because of his taste for young boys, and that he was known to sell poppers and marijuana in the gay community during the period in question.

While investigating the death of three gay men who were found in a Hamilton County field shot to the death, Indianapolis homicide investigators learned Miller's boss, Prosecutor James Kelley, had been in attendance at a late-night part of gay men where the three dead men were last seen alive. All three victims were employees of a local gay bar. Police learned Kelley had learned from a friend of the men that the three men were missing and wanted to file a missing person's report. Kelley advised the friend on filing a missing person's report but advised him to leave his name out of it according to Cady's book. Kelley was never implicated in the triple homicide, but when word of Kelley's attendance at the party surfaced in local news media reports, his reputation suffered badly. Indeed, another man employed at the gay bar where the three men worked was found guilty and is still serving a life sentence for the killings.

In addition to his sworn confession, Miller produced to police very damning evidence of his intimate relationship with Kelley, including notes and letters and hotel and airline receipts for the pair's travel together to other cities in the United States and Canada. Police had sought evidence from Miller that Kelley and/or persons in his office were selling grand jury transcripts but Miller would not confirm the allegation. IPD brass later struck a deal not to pursue its investigation of Kelley after he announced he would not be seeking re-election to office in 1978. The lead investigator in the case resigned in protest according to the former vice officer. The charges against Miller were later dropped after he recanted his sworn statement. Miller protested that he had been threatened by police with a lengthy prison sentence if he did not provide dirt to them on Kelley. The former vice officer to this day remains convinced Miller spoke the truth about Kelley and had molested the two young boys in Johnson County.

The former vice officer said Miller obtained the formula for manufacturing poppers from an Eli Lilly employee who spirited it out the back door and assisted Miller in setting up the business. The Lilly employee later lost his job with the pharmaceutical giant after he was charged in the Rent-A-Man male prostitution investigation. Miller later grew the business into a worldwide business with multi-million dollar sales. Although poppers were illegal to sell for human consumption, Miller skirted laws restricting their sale by marketing them as room deodorizers or video head cleaner with a wink and a nod. The chemical compound is sometimes prescribed by doctors to treat certain heart conditions but sales of other prescription drugs like Viagra contain a warning not to combine their use with nitrate drugs prescribed by a physician. Unfortunately, some users of poppers died without knowing that danger.

When news of Miller's death first spread throughout the Indianapolis community, there were rumors linking his death to the murder-suicide that rocked the Barnes & Thornburg law firm. Within the same 24-hour period an attorney with the firm found Miller's body at his home, Dave Frisby killed his wife, also an attorney with the firm, at the Brownsburg home where the couple had resided together before she filed for divorce. Frisby then drove downtown to a parking garage adjacent to the law firm's offices on Meridian Street armed with two handguns, whereupon he began firing shots into the windows of the floor where his deceased wife had worked before turning the gun on himself and plunging to his death to the street below while dozens of shocked pedestrians looked on. Shortly before the tragedy, Frisby had posted on his website a message condemning lawyers at the firm and blaming them for the break-up of his marriage. "The bad lawyers at the Barnes and Thornburg law firm ... do not respect the institution of marriage and corrupted my wife Mary Jane (sex and drugs). Someone (maybe one of their good lawyers) please make them pay. Justice demands the truth out. It's a tragedy." Knowledgeable sources now believe the timng of their deaths and the connections to the firm are merely coincidental.

As intriguing as the entire Miller death mystery is, the even greater mystery is the total media silence on his death. While Indianapolis' mainstream news sources have stumbled all over each other to report every detail it can gather on the Ponzi scheme federal investigators allege prominent Indianapolis businessman Tim Durham operated to defraud more than $200 million out of innocent small-time Ohio investors, including intimate details of his life, the media has reported nothing on the circumstances surrounding an equally prominent Indianapolis businessman engaged in an illicit drug business with a sordid past, who liked Durham, showered generous contributions on many Indiana politicians. Somehow or another I have to believe if there were still old-school investigative newspaper reporters like Dick Cady working today there would have been a lot more reporting on Miller's death and questions raised about his ties to prominent Indiana Democrats and business leaders. A special thanks to Dick Cady for callling my attention to the old Johnson County criminal charges against Miller, which led to the discovery of so much more troubling information about this man. Again, I ask, why the conspiracy of silence?

More Of The Joe Miller Mystery Solved

It's been nearly four months since news came that Joseph F. Miller, a prominent Indianapolis philanthropist for GLBT-related causes and the world's largest manufacturer of poppers, was found dead in his downtown home as the result of an apparent suicide. We heard stories about his business, Great Lakes Products, being raided by federal agents and closed and computers and other evidence being hauled away as evidence, but there remains no public confirmation of any official government action being taken against Miller or his businesses prior to his death. A new twist to Miller's death was added when former Pulitzer-prize winning reporter for the Indianapolis Star Dick Cady released his new book, Deadline: Indianapolis. Upon reading his book, I found a very interesting passage in Cady's book discussing Miller's relationship with former Marion Co. Prosecutor James Kelley.

Cady stumbled upon Miller while investigating Kelley's attendance at a pre-dawn party for gay men at which three of the attendees who worked at a local gay bar turned up dead in snowy field up in Hamilton Co. where their bodies had been dumped after they were shot to death. Kelley had come within the cross hairs of the Indianapolis Police Department after he set up a special unit in the prosecutor's office to investigate police corruption. When IPD investigators learned Kelley had been in attendance at the very party where the three murdered men had last been seen alive, naturally, the police wanted to learn more about Kelley's knowledge of what happened to the three men. As Cady explained in his book, a friend of the missing men, David Leigh Harrison, had gone to Kelley to advise him the men were missing. Kelley had instructed the young man on how to file a missing person's report but wanted his name left out of it. Cady learned Harrison had been questioned by IPD about Kelley and the murders after Myrta Pulliam, daughter of Star publisher Gene Pulliam, had summoned him to her house to meet with Harrison. As Cady described what Harrison told him:

At Myrta's house I met David Leigh Harrison, a thirty-one year old homosexual who was visibly frightened. Harrison's story was complicated, yet it had a simple point: He was caught between two powerful forces, IPD and Marion County Prosecutor Jim Kelley. Earlier that day, Harrison and several friends had been interrogated by CAT detectives, who wanted information about Kelley. Harrison said he didn't give much but thought his roommate, another homosexual named David Fairfield, known as Doris, gave a complete, tape-recorded statement.


My memory snapped back to a big news story last winter. Three young men, all employees of a homosexual bar, were found shot to death in a snowy field in neighboring Hamilton County. Although a former employee of the bar, Mikco Ball, had been arrested, there were unanswered questions.

Harrison knew all three victims. He knew them from gay bars and from the carriage house apartment two of them lived in the Woodruff Place section on the east side. All three had been at a pre-dawn party at the apartment the night before they disappeared. Jim Kelley and a man from his staff also were there, Harrison said.

Through Harrison's lead, Cady was led to a young Joseph F. Miller, who at the time served as the grand jury bailiff for Kelley's office. "Joseph F. Miller, a young bailiff for the grand jury, was a friend of Harrison's. Miller was known in the homosexual community as a chicken hawk, or someone who preferred boys and younger men, and he sold marijuana and a chemical known as poppers," Cady recounted. "Miller would tell us some very interesting stories later, in a confidential interview," Cady added. Cady's book does not detail what Miller told him during that confidential interview. Following an earlier blog post on Cady's book, I was informed I should look into an arrest record of Miller's in Johnson County during this time frame regarding allegations of molestation of underage boys by Miller in the Greenwood community. Another blogger, John Michael Vore, visited the Johnson County courthouse and searched for records of the arrest. Sure enough, Vore found the smoking gun. Cause No. 2-361C filed on March 20, 1977 charged Miller with sodomy for engaging in sex with two young males, ages 14 and 15 (the victims are named in the court records but out of respect to them I will omit their names here). Miller was arrested and released on a $10,000 bond, but the charges were later dropped on November 13, 1978 after Miller failed to show in court on two separate occasions. Vore became suspicious of the validity of the allegations against Miller given the perceived and, in many instances, discriminatory treatment of homosexuals in the criminal justice system during that period of time, and the fact that the salacious charges against Miller were ultimate dismissed.

After Vore passed along to me the information he discovered on Miller's arrest in Johnson County, I followed up with several other individuals to see if I could learn more about why those charges against Miller were dropped. As with many of these cases, parents of the victims are very concerned about the impact a public trial will have on their child and the potential embarrassment and lasting emotional impact on them. The parents of both victims did not want the case to go forward. One of the victim's family relocated to Oregon after the arrest took place, while the parents of the other victim feared the impact of the publicity on them and wanted the case to go away. I also learned separate charges had been filed against Miller in Marion County. The prosecutor assigned to the case was none other than Ann DeLaney, who was in charge of sex crimes within the prosecutor's office at the time. This explained to me why DeLaney, who would later become a close political confidante of Evan Bayh, would work to keep Miller's distance from Bayh when Miller would later emerge as one of the biggest political contributors to Indiana Democrats. Bayh refused to accept money from Miller, unlike other prominent Democrats, including former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, U.S. Rep. Baron Hill and former House Speaker Pat Bauer, who accepted contributions from him.

The most interesting information I learned from following up with sources concerning the Johnson Co. arrest was how it came about in the first place and the critical role Miller played as a witness in other ongoing investigations being undertaken by IPD at the time, particularly the investigation of Kelley mentioned by Cady in his book. It was a case of two separate cases converging in a way one could not have anticipated. IPD was investigating allegations an Indianapolis gay businessman, who held himself out as aiding runaway male youths in the Indianapolis area, had been sexually exploiting them by prostituting them out to adult men in the Indianapolis area through a service called "Rent A Man." Patrons of the service included some prominent local businessmen. Old newspaper stories from the period document the existence of that investigation. At the same time the "Rent A Man" investigation was under way, IPD investigators learned of the case in Greenwood involving the two youths Miller was later charged with sexually exploiting. When police brought Miller in for questioning and he learned of the serious jail time he could be facing, Miller in a matter of speaking began singing to the police.

Whatever loyalty Miller had to his boss, the Marion Co. prosecutor, quickly disappeared when faced with the possibility of hard time in prison himself. Perhaps what Miller told police is similar to the "very interesting stories" Miller told Cady during his confidential interview with him. Miller told police he had been introduced to Kelley for the purpose of providing sex to him. Miller told police he got his job as the grand jury bailiff in consideration for the sexual favors he provided to Kelley. Miller gave police a graphic description of his sexual encounters with Kelley. He told them Kelley liked to treat him like a sex slave he had purchased at a Greek auction. Miller said Kelley's proclivity toward S&M personally turned him off and he sometimes got too rough for his personal taste. Kelley treated Miller to sex-filled trips to places like Washington, D.C., New York and Montreal. Miller furnished police with records of hotels bills, plane tickets and other expenses related to the trips he took with Kelley. He gave them personal notes Kelley had sent him which suggested much more than the typical employer-employee relationship. Miller was questioned about whether grand jury transcripts were being illegally sold, but he could offer police no evidence this was occurring. More importantly, Miller signed a sworn statement. Police also had Miller examined by a respected polygraph examiner and he passed with flying colors.

To put it bluntly, Indianapolis police had Kelley's nuts in a vice with Miller's testimony. As with so many investigations involving public corruption in Indianapolis, however, there would be a series of twists and turns that would ensure the truth of what laid below the surface would never see the light of day. Miller would later recant his sworn statement, saying he only told those things about Kelley because of the enormous pressure police exerted on him, threatening him with a long time in jail. The Kelley investigation would ultimately be dropped. A lead investigator would resign in protest. Kelley would agree not to seek re-election as prosecutor in 1978, paving the way for a match-up between Andy Jacobs, Sr. and Steve Goldsmith, a race Goldsmith would eventually win and that would propel him into the mayor's office in 1991. One of Miller's friends, a chemist at Eli Lilly who spirited amyl nitrates out the back door for Miller to sell for a profit would lose his job and be charged with sex crimes. Miller would go on to use the formula he acquired from the friendly chemist to make a fortune manufacturing and selling amyl nitrates known as poppers as a recreational drug inhalant.

The Eli Lilly connection to the Miller mystery is indeed a fascinating one. When HIV/AIDS was first discovered a few years later, many medical researchers initially believed poppers were the cause of the deadly disease that inflicted so many gay men because something virtually all of the early victims had in common was their prolific use of poppers while engaging in homosexual sex. That would be the subject of a conspiracy theory but for the fact that Lilly, to the best of my knowledge, has never researched or marketed drugs to treat HIV/AIDS, a niche that has become a multi-billion dollar industry for other pharmaceutical giants that compete with Lilly. Poppers would raise their ugly head again though when Pfizer first introduced its erectile dysfunction drug, Viagra. As gay men began combining the use of Viagra with the recreational use of poppers, a number experienced sudden death resulting from a serious drop in blood pressure. Lilly later developed its own male enhancement drug, Cialis, to compete with Viagra. Interestingly, Miller's old friend former Mayor Bart Peterson, is now Vice-President of Corporate Affairs and Communications for Lilly. As mayor, Peterson not only accepted Miller's campaign contributions, he also appointed him to the Equal Employment Opportunity board. He also attended a memorial service in Miller's honor following his death.

Last year, the Indiana Stonewall Democrats presented Miller with an award for his years of service to the gay community at an event hosted at the home of Indianapolis City-County Councilor Jackie Nytes, which was co-hosted by a number of Democratic luminaries, including former Secretary of State Joe Hogsett, who has since become U.S. Attorney for the southern district of Indiana, and Terry Curry, the incoming prosecutor of Marion County. Curry has named former Marion Co. Prosecutor James Kelley's chief trial deputy, David Rimstidt, as his own chief trial deputy.

From what I gathered from my investigation of the James Kelley-Joe Miller saga, I have reached the conclusion the face of Indiana and Indianapolis politics was forever changed because the investigations into the matters involving these two men ended prematurely. The professional reputations and political careers of some very influential individuals were allowed to be kept intact because those investigations were buried. The man ultimately convicted of killing those three gay men, Mikco Ball, may or may not have been responsible for their deaths. I did not learn any additional information that resolved the doubts Dick Cady shared in his book about his culpability for their deaths. And I still don't have answers as to why Miller's business was raided in late August and he chose to end his life. Those are mysteries that will have to be solved at a later time, if ever.

Curry Picks A Face From The Past For Chief Deputy

The Indianapolis Times Blog reports incoming Marion County prosecutor has tapped David Rimstidt to serve as his chief trial deputy. Quoting from a press release making the announcement:

Prosecutor-Elect Terry Curry announced today that Hon. David Rimstidt will serve as Chief Trial Deputy when he assumes the office of Marion County Prosecutor effective January 1, 2011.


Curry states, "Judge Rimstidt is exceptionally qualified to serve as my Chief Trial Deputy. He has the experience and temperament needed to begin the process of restoring honor and integrity back to the Marion County Prosecutor's Office. He has a diverse background involving complex litigation matters and will be an invaluable asset not only to the Office but to all of the citizens of Marion County as we hit the ground running on January 1st to make Indianapolis a safer place to live, work and raise a family."

Rimstidt has 37 years of legal experience. His diverse background includes participation in over 100 jury trials serving as both litigator and judge. He is the former judge of Marion County Superior Court, Civil Division 5. He is a founding partner in the Alternative Dispute Resolution firm of Van Winkle*Baten*Rimstidt from which he is taking a leave of absence. Coincidentally, Judge Rimstidt is returning to the position of Chief Trial Deputy that he held from 1977 to 1979.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, Rimstidt's name will sound familiar. He made an appearance in one of my posts discussing Dick Cady's new book, "Deadline: Indianapolis." Cady's book discusses a triple homicide involving three gay men who worked at a local gay bar and who disappeared after attending a pre-dawn party and were later found shot to death in a field up in Hamilton County. The deaths took on interesting intrigue because the Marion County prosecutor at the time (1975-79), James Kelley, had attended the same party shortly before the men disappeared. Cady recounts in his book how Myrta Pulliam led him to a young gay man who knew the murdered men and how he was caught between the powerful forces of the Indianapolis Police Department, which disliked Kelley, and the prosecutor's office run by Kelley. The story was more intriguing to Cady because Myrta Pulliam was dating Kelley's chief deputy at the time, David Rimstidt. To make a long story short, Kelley's connection to the party where the three men had last been seen alive was enough to sink him politically, although there was no indication Kelley had anything to do with their deaths. Cady's book also discusses "some very interesting stories" he heard from the bailiff for Kelley's grand jury, Joe Miller. As Cady notes, Miller had earned a reputation for selling marijuana and poppers back in those days. Miller, who went on to become extremely wealthy as the world's largest manufacturer of poppers, recently committed suicide and his business that manufactured poppers was closed after allegedly being raided by federal authorities. It's a small world, isn't it?

Cady Book Adds To The Mystery Surrounding The Death Of Joe Miller

Pulitzer Prize-winning former reporter for the Indianapolis Star Dick Cady has authored a memoir of his four decades in journalism. It's titled, "Deadline: Indianapolis." Perhaps no other journalist in Indianapolis can offer a better perspective on social, cultural and political life in Indianapolis than Cady. I would highly urge anyone interested in "how things really are" to pick up a copy of his book. It's available on amazon.com. I had the privilege of meeting Cady for the first time this week to pick up my own copy of his new book and to shoot the breeze with him for awhile about our respective perspectives of Indianapolis. We're both transplants; he's from Michigan and I'm from Illinois. I think it takes an outsider's perspective to see Indianapolis as the backwater town it is as opposed to the rose-colored glasses through which it is billed by our esteemed "civic leaders" as a "progressive, world class city." You don't have to dig too deep beneath the surface to find a dirty underworld filled with a cast of characters from a Mario Puzo or Agatha Christie crime novel.

I've been vilified in some corners of this community for daring to speak ill of the dead. In this case, the subject of my musings was Joe "The Popper King" Miller. We're led to believe Miller, who was perhaps one of the wealthiest men in Indianapolis, took his own life at his downtown condo along the canal for reasons that have never been explained. There has been talk of his Great Lakes Products, which manufactured amyl nitrates packaged in small glass bottles and sold world-wide over the Internet and at gay bars and adult bookstores as a recreational drug inhalant, being raided and closed down by federal agents. No federal agency has acknowledged such a raid took place at his Indianapolis business out on Harding Street, although the lights went out on websites promoting the product, and retailers of the product told users their supplies of the illicit drug would not be replenished due to the business closing. A website for the JF Miller Foundation, which Miller established to support his favorite causes, went dark as well. Other stories have been told of law enforcement carrying computers and other potential evidence out of his home. A well-placed source at IMPD denies any local law enforcement agency participated in any raid of his business. To my knowledge, the cause of Miller's death has not been confirmed publicly. The Indianapolis Star initially posted a story suggesting suicide as the likely cause of his death, but the story disappeared from the newspaper's website almost as quickly as it appeared.

Besides a paid obituary, the Star and other mainstream media sources in town have shared no additional information on his death. A gay newspaper, The Word, reported on a memorial service attended by a few hundred friends at the Indianapolis Repertory Theater, including a number of prominent members of the community. Former Gov. Joe Kernan and his wife Maggie both spoke about his life at the service as did former ACLU Executive Director and Corporation Counsel to former Mayor Bill Hudnut, Sheila Kennedy. Former Mayor Bart Peterson and a bevy of other politicians attended, along with Bren Simon, but none of them spoke. I'm told no current office-holders were present. Miller contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic politicians. Peterson took $10,000 in his unsuccessful re-election campaign, but other Democrats, including Evan Bayh, refused to accept money from him. Even Kernan turned contributions from him down I'm told. Yet Kernan spoke at his memorial service and Peterson did not.

When I stopped by Cady's home to pick up my copy of his book, he wanted me to know he had included some intriguing information on Miller in his memoir. Cady once wrote obituaries for the Star and you could bet he would have shaken his head in disgust had he still been working at the Star and saw first-hand the newspaper's treatment of his death. In a prologue to his book, Cady shares his vivid memory of the passing of Gene Pulliam in 1999 and the unpublished column he submitted as a tribute to him. Those of you who remember his columns from the Star will remember he was honest and blunt to a fault. Cady's column on Gene Pulliam began:

Many of the stories you hear about the legends of the newspaper business tend to be true but incomplete. If they usually are accurate as far as they go, they don't often go as far as they could, or perhaps should.

Why? The truth sometimes is uncomfortable, or embarrassing, or too personal, or tends to tamper with myths no one wants to tamper with.

When Gene Pulliam died the other day, I realized he probably would not get the credit for what certainly was his finest achievement.

Cady's column went on to describe how it couldn't have always been easy for Eugene S. Pulliam to be the son of Eugence C. Pulliam, the arch conservative who used his newspapers like a club to promote his political philosophy. He described the dark side of Eugene C. on the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Eugene C. refused to run his death as the top story, describing King in very unflattering terms. The moving speech Sen. Robert Kennedy (who Eugene C. similarly despised) gave during an appearance in Indianapolis on the day of his death was buried under a political story touting the candidacy of Roger Branigan, a conservative candidate for governor. From that point on, Cady described how "Young Gene" became more assertive and began to change the coverage of the newspaper. "The ardent page one editorials dwindled and stopped," Cady wrote. "Increasingly, he insisted upon--and then demanded--balance and fairness." Cady's column never ran because Frank Caperton thought it made it appear Young Gene "had repudiated all of his father's philosophy" and should be shortened and held at least for a few days out of deference to the family. Rather than tinker with the column, Cady bluntly replied, "Thanks, but it's lost its impetus and any timeliness. Send it to the electronic graveyard."

Joe Miller with former First Lady Judy O'Bannon

And so that brings me to the point of this post, Joe Miller. Cady's book recounts the collapse of James Kelley, a lawyer who got elected as Marion Co. Prosecutor in the Democratic landslide of 1974. Kelley had a reputation as a guy who didn't think much of police. If you read Cady's book, you'll gain a greater appreciation for that point of view--at least during that period of Indianapolis' history. During this period, Richard Lugar had ushered in the era of Unigov and earned the reputation of "Richard Nixon's favorite mayor." Lugar's police department was populated with dirty cops--at least 20% by Cady's estimate. The Indianapolis Police Department had no use for Kelley and was more than happy to end his career. As it turned out, Kelley gave them the rope to do it. Cady recounts getting a phone call from Myrta Pulliam at home. "You have to listen to this story," she told Cady. "It's really weird. It's about Jim Kelley." Cady rushed over to Myrta's home and explained what he learned:

At Myrta's house I met David Leigh Harrison, a thirty-one year old homosexual who was visibly frightened. Harrison's story was complicated, yet it had a simple point: He was caught between two powerful forces, IPD and Marion County Prosecutor Jim Kelley. Earlier that day, Harrison and several friends had been interrogated by CAT detectives, who wanted information about Kelley. Harrison said he didn't give much but thought his roommate, another homosexual named David Fairfield, known as Doris, gave a complete, tape-recorded statement.

My memory snapped back to a big news story last winter. Three young men, all employees of a homosexual bar, were found shot to death in a snowy field in neighboring Hamilton County. Although a former employee of the bar, Mikco Ball, had been arrested, there were unanswered questions.

Harrison knew all three victims. He knew them from gay bars and from the carriage house apartment two of them lived in the Woodruff Place section on the east side. All three had been at a pre-dawn party at the apartment the night before they disappeared. Jim Kelley and a man from his staff also were there, Harrison said.

So what does this have to do with Joe Miller? Hang on. It gets more interesting. It turns out Kelley had attended two gay parties that night. "Joseph F. Miller, a young bailiff for the grand jury, was a friend of Harrison's. Miller was known in the homosexual community as a chicken hawk, or someone who preferred boys and younger men, and he sold marijuana and a chemical known as poppers," Cady recounted. Cady later confirmed from other sources Kelley had attended the parties where the three murder victims had also been in attendance, a fact Kelley eventually admitted but claimed he had gone there on business to meet with a potential witness in a case involving dirty cops. Kelley had even briefed one of the victims' friends on how to file a missing persons report but to leave his name out of it. Adding further to the intrigue was the fact Myrta had been dating Kelley's chief deputy at the time, David Rimstidt. Ball was eventually convicted of killing the three men but some doubted his guilt. Cady found no evidence tying Kelley to the deaths, but when the news of his entanglement in the case and his efforts to cover up his role hit the newspaper, it destroyed his reputation beyond repair. As to Miller, Cady wrote, "Miller would tell us some very interesting stories later, in a confidential interview." Cady does not detail those stories.

What intrigued me was Cady's characterization of Miller back in the 1970s as "a chicken hawk", or someone who preyed on boys or younger men. A former business associate of Miller has told me he knew Miller had been involved intimately with underage boys. Another business associate and acquaintance of Miller, John Michael Vore, has written about Miller's proclivity towards underage boys. Vore became particularly intrigued and inspired to write more about what he knew after reading the account in The Word on the memorial service in Miller's honor following his death. Vore, a former speechwriter for Gov. Robert Orr, wrote:

Earlier in the last week of October, I found myself rereading an interview with former Governor Joe Kernan (D-Indiana). He spoke with a reporter at the end of the September, 2010 Indianapolis memorial for Indiana businessman and philanthropist Joseph F. Miller, Jr. who the Indianapolis Star reported as a probably suicide in late August (Link: http://twitpic.com/2unkmz). On-line blogger Ruth Holladay broke the story on Miller's death.


Six weeks later, the October, 2010 Indiana Word came out, and Kernan said the following to reporter Rick Sutton:

Former Gov. Joe Kernan "recalled a foreign trip his wife took with Miller, when Kernan was lieutenant governor, where the hired driver tried to extort extra money from the American visitors. The American tourists called Kernan in his office at the Statehouse and he phoned Sen. Evan Bayh's office. By nightfall, Marines arrived at Miller's and Maggie Kernan's hotel rooms to escort them safely to a plane . . .

"The former governor, after the memorial, told me, 'I think Joe was more angry about the extra money.'" --Source: Sutton, Rick. "Joe Miller memorialised As Man He 'Wanted to Be.'" The Indiana Word, October 24, 2010, page 44 (if you use the link above, put in "47" where the page box is; there's a mismatch between printed on on-line page numbering).



I had, prior to the memorial, spoken for hours over two phone calls with the publisher of the Indiana Word about all matters and rumors related to Joseph F. Miller, Jr., one of which was in fact a story about him getting in trouble overseas: but it was very different from Kernan's story. It was a story you wouldn't tell at Miller's memorial or as a joke, and it was one Miller told me, himself, in 2005.


The Word publisher also told me that Miller had sent out letters to various individuals with specific instructions about how to proceed in wrapping up his affairs. Perhaps this is the source of Kernan's story?

In 2005, Miller told me he had "gotten in trouble with a kid we hired to do some web work for us"; and "...it took the Secretary of State to get us out," Miller said. Mr. Miller said this to me in the context of questions to him about a relationship he had had over several decades with someone who was under fifteen, when it started. His story about trouble overseas followed his corroboration of the relationship begun when one of his "partners" was several years under the legal age of consent. I'd first heard it from the mouth of the younger partner, when that man was in his 20s, in 1990.

Thus, by saying what he did in 2005, Miller confirmed his half of a relationship, without discrepancy, from that told me by the other half, in 1990. Two sides of the coin identified it clearly.

So by the time of Mr. Miller's memorial, the publisher of the Indiana Word and his reporter knew that Mr. Miller had confirmed a story of underage sex with me, learned first-hand, from the younger "partner" in 1990; and that Mr. Miller had told me of a new incident which occurred in the 2000s, as indicated above. In Mr. Kernan's telling, Mr. Miller was concerned about a "tip"; I suggest Kernan has stumbled onto the "tip of an iceberg."

It took me 15 years before I could confirm a first-hand account of a relationship with Mr. Miller. I think that Miller lived a hidden life, and did things behind the facade of a gay, progressive philanthropists that made it very difficult to know what he was really like. Except to a few people . . .

It is a coincidence that Kernan would speak about Miller, who I met with twice, alone, during his lifetime: in 2005, and when he hired me in 1990, to work on his news monthly, Heartland, where I was given the title of Managing Editor, though I was really just a reporter. My most notable series covered a sex worker network discovered in March, 1990 and announced publicly by Stephen Goldsmith, Marion County Prosecutor: Goldsmith and I clashed in a couple of articles regarding his lying about AIDS and his treatment of sex workers, some of whom his office was trying to extradite for trial in Indianapolis.


I worked for Heartland until that Fall, when I went back to graduate school and over 3 years, wrote a non-fiction book about learning to write a novel, closeted gay Hoosier politicians, and male sex workers;I also wrote about my attempts to gain equal rights for lesbian and gay students at Notre Dame/St. Mary's College, and a priest sexual abuse crisis which erupted at Notre Dame in 1991.

I met Miller, then, in 1990, and in 2005: it was because of the second meeting with him, and subsequent research, that I wrote what I did in remarks at Ruthholladay.com regarding Miller (here and here).

Yet if anyone asked me, "How well did you know Governor Orr?" or "Did you know Joe Miller very well?" I'd have said I didn't know either very well, at all.

I found out more in 2005 because I implied to Miller that I was like him: so he told me about his life. Having been a reporter for him, I used some of the techniques I had learned while working for him, against him. I did this intentionally to find out if the story I'd heard in 1990 was true, and because I had come to believe that Mr. Miller had not been forthcoming with me in 1990, when he encouraged me and helped direct my coverage of a sex-4-hire network, via his Editor, James Jackson. Miller, Jackson and Chris Gonzalez helped pull strings for me to gain access to sex workers and a great deal of information about a sex-4-hire network; they encouraged me to take on Stephen Goldsmith in my articles, especially in clashing with Goldsmith

I did not expect expect that in 2005, Mr. Miller would so easily corroborate what I'd heard in 1990 about underage sex; not did I expect him to tell me a new story which implied its continuation with others into the 2000s, but he did. Nor did I also expect him to tell me that the way to rescue a teen I knew from an abusive situation was to "kidnap him" (Miller's words): "You know, they fight you for awhile. But after a week or so, they give in."

Vore's story adds much to the intrigue surrounding the death of Miller. It suggest the possibility a raid of his business may have had more to do with his activities related to underage boys than his illegal popper business. Kernan's story of the Marines landing to whisk Miller and his wife to safety during their trip to South Africa together adds even more intrigue. Surely there must be public records somewhere to shed more light on this event. I recall no media accounts at the time of their harrowing experience. Will the news media dig for more information? Or will it, like the life and death of Miller remain just that--an unsolved mystery? Can we not handle the truth about this man? Is the truth too embarrassing and too personal for the esteemed members of our community who held him in such high regard? Are we to simply believe the fables yarned at his memorial service? Perhaps that is how it must be. Just as Cady's bosses at the Star deemed his personal tribute to "Young Gene"--too honest.

Miller's Death Brings More Mystery

An avid reader of this blog brought to my attention a letter to the editor uploaded to the Indianapolis Business Journal's website on August 28, 2010. An IBJ reader wrote to the editor to complain about a recent story the business newspaper carried about the failure of museums along Indianapolis' downtown canal to attract sufficient foot traffic. A letter that would otherwise be of little significance intrigued the reader because the person who submitted the letter is Joseph F. Miller, who reportedly took his own life on August 26, 2010 at his downtown condominium on West Michigan Street near the canal, two days before the letter was published in the IBJ. The IBJ has not carried a story on Miller's death as of this writing. Miller, who was 59 at the time of his death, was described in his obituary as "a successful entrepreneur and active philanthropist," which appeared in the Friday, September 3 edition of the Star, more than a week after his death. Miller wrote to criticize the way the IBJ had presented the story on the museums' failure to attrack visitors to the canal:

I was puzzled about the way this topic was presented. Clearly the four cultural attractions mentioned are the gems of the canal, with each one bringing people specifically to their building to see their exhibits and experience their programs.


As someone who is often on the canal running, walking or on my Segway, I agree with the Indiana Historical Society’s CEO, John Herbst, when he observes that many canal users, especially at this time of year, are there for physical exercise—and a museum visit is not part of their plan while jogging or walking.

It seems to me that it is not the responsibility of the canal district cultural attractions—nor within their capabilities—to try to create the ambience that San Antonio’s canal provides (which is much more akin to what Massachusetts Avenue has achieved here in Indianapolis).

Although he was a very successful businessman, the manner in which he achieved his success--the manufacture and distribution of amyl nitrates as a recreational inhalant drug--often attracted criticism of him and drew the scrutiny of federal regulators. His most vocal critic was Hank Wilson, an HIV/AIDS gay activist. Wilson co-authored a book, DEATH RUSH: Poppers & AIDS in 1986 in which he took direct aim at Miller's Great Lakes Products, considered to be the largest manufacturer and distributor of poppers  in the world, which was based in Indianapolis before the business seemed to abruptly close at the same time as Miller's death by suicide first became publicly known. In 2004, Wilson as head of the Committee to Monitor Poppers/SURVIVE AIDS wrote to the FDA to urge a crackdown on the distribution of poppers in this country, which he insisted have contributed to the spread of HIV/AIDS and have had a devastating and deadly impact on the health of people who use poppers, namely gay men. Complaining about the FDA's failure to carry out enforcement action against the manufacturers and distributors of poppers, Wilson, who is now dead, wrote, in an October 14, 2004 letter to the FDA:

Enforcement is overdue. Research accumulates finding amyl nitrite immunosuppressive, and a significant risk factor in unsafe sex, hiv seroconversion, and Kaposi’s Sarcoma.. Prevalence of use is high. The consuming community, both consumers and many doctors, is ignorant of the research, confused by mixed and/or changing messages overtime, and/or misinformed by deceptive advertising by the poppers industry.

The public health impact is costly with every new amyl nitrite fueled HIV infection. Its not just the consumer that pays the price for using amyl nitrite. The public pays for the morbidy and costly care associated with each new hiv infection.

The public health impact justifies an expenditure of resources to enforce the prescription regulation. A time limited, ongoing, or even random publicized enforcement action will have a deterrent as well as education impact on both sellers, consumers, and doctors.

The consuming community needs an update and alert that research about the hazards of using amyl nitrite is accumulating. Doctors too need updating about the accumulating research on the hazards of abusing amyl nitrite. Both consumers and doctors initially focused on amyl nitrite use being a cause of AIDS.

When HIV was discovered, the focus and concern about amyl nitrite/poppers use diminished or disappeared. Subsequent advertising by the poppers industry exonerated poppers use. A gourmet myth has currency among both consumers and doctors that amyl nitrite is “the safe one”, the poppers formulation that is hazard free. The poppers industry ads foster this health endangering belief.

Some amyl nitrite sellers endanger consumers by promoting amyl nitrite and Viagra on the same website. There appears to be no consequence for advertising both poppers and Viagra despite them being a potentially lethal combination. A compelling reason for FDA to reassess its non enforcement of regulating amyl nitrite is the burgeoning sales and use of Viagra and non prescription sales of Viagra. Consumers need the prescription counseling about hazards of using amyl nitrite. Recreational Viagra use has emerged as a significant behavior among males, homosexual and straight.

Although there have been Internet rumors Miller's Indianapolis-based business was raided shortly before his suicide last week, there has been no confirmation of it from government law enforcement officials. It is clear that a number of websites once operated by Miller to promote the sale of poppers went dark near the time of his unexpected death. Others suggest a government shutdown of his popper business had nothing to do with his suicide. According to those sources, federal law enforcement officials are remaining low key about his death as they work to unravel alleged crimes totally unrelated to Miller's popper business. Other than a story that appeared a week ago briefly in the Indianapolis Star before being yanked from the online edition reporting on his suicide earlier that week and the obituary that appeared in yesterday's Star, the news media has remained very quiet about his death. Those who profess to have known him expressed shock and disbelief that he would have taken his own life.

A memorial service and celebration of Joe Miller's life is scheduled at the Indiana Repertory Theater on Tuesday, September 7th at 5:30 p.m. according to his obituary in the Star. The obituary says donations in his memory can be made to The Damien Center of Indianapolis, The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, or The Indiana AIDS Fund. It says final arrangements have been entrusted to Crown Hill Funeral Home.

Miller's Popper Business Closed

A blog report out of New York suggests Joe Miller's Great Lakes Products, the world's largest manufacturer of poppers, has been closed following news he committed suicide last week. This Is FYF blog in a post headlined, "Rush to the store because your bottle of poppers just became a collector's item," reported on hearing from a video store owner that Miller's business had shuttered its doors. The blog checked several websites at which brands of Miller's poppers were sold, including its most popular brand, RUSH, and found all of them shuttered, including Pac West Distributing, which distributes the amyl nitrate inhalants manufactured by Miller's Great Lakes Products based in Indianapolis. Was the business recently raided by federal investigators? We can only guess.

As usual, the Indianapolis news media remains mum on the death of one of the City's wealthiest businessmen and perhaps the largest single contributor to Democratic candidates in the state of Indiana behind the billionaire Simon family. Although it is illegal to market amyl nitrates for human consumption without a prescription, Miller's company for decades cleverly marketed its products as video head cleaner and room deodorizers with a wink and a nod. Combining poppers with erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra can have deadly consequences. The recreational drug inhalant also weakens the body's immune system, increases the likelihood of contracting HIV/AIDS and is a likely cause of Kaposi's sarcoma, a disease often associated with gay men suffering from HIV/AIDS.

The more I ponder this story the more I can't stop thinking about the complete double standard in the local news media's coverage of Miller versus their coverage of alleged Ponzi scheme operator Tim Durham. In reality, from a purely business-motivated end of the equation, there is far more intrigue and titillating details to the Miller story to draw viewers and readers than there ever was to the Durham story. Durham must be sitting out in his L.A. mansion wondering if he would have been better off to take the lower public profile path Miller chose than the much higher public profile he chose to take.

Star Posts Online Story On Joe Miller's Death And Then Yanks It

Joe Miller shown with former President Bill Clinton at a fundraiser held in the home of former Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Joe Andrew

The Indianapolis Star briefly posted an online story yesterday entitled, "Advocate for gays may have killed self," which mentioned the suspected suicide death of Joe Miller before the publication removed the story. Miller owned Great Lakes Products, the world's largest manufacturer of poppers based in Indianapolis. Poppers are a recreational drug inhalant made from a liquid form of amyl and butyl nitrates that are marketed online in small bottles costing $12 to $14 to the gay community. The drug was/is often illegally distributed for sale in many gay bars, adult bookstores and night clubs across the country and around the world. Inexplicably, the Star removed the online story and ran no story in today's Sunday Star. A cached version of the online story since taken down read:

An Indianapolis man who championed the rights and health of gay Hoosiers was found dead in his Downtown home Thursday, police said.

The death of Joseph F. Miller is being investigated as a possible suicide, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report. Miller, 59, was a wealthy businessman who supported issues relevant to the gay community and helped underwrite the Damien Center's HIV testing and prevention efforts.

Miller helped found Indiana Stonewall Democrats, a political caucus of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Democrats.

Former Gov. Joe Kernan said he and his wife, Maggie, had known Joe Miller since 1996, when Kernan came to Indianapolis as lieutenant governor.

"He was a dear friend to both of us, and we're very sad," Kernan said Friday, a day after Miller's death. Miller, he said, "was generous to his community, to Indianapolis, and in many ways that people are not aware of."

Police found his body in his home in the 400 block of West Michigan Street about 9:45 a.m. Thursday, according to a report.

An autopsy was done Friday. Officials are awaiting toxicology test results, Chief Deputy Coroner Alfarena Ballew said.

Do you think someone told Dennis Ryerson how Miller made his money, causing him to rethink the statement, "a man who championed the rights and health of gay Hoosiers?" I would agree with the first part of that sentence, but I don't know how you could claim someone who got rich manufacturing and selling poppers to gay men could possibly give a damn about their health.

Miller donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates, including the late U.S. Rep. Julia Carson, former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Petesson, U.S. Rep. Baron Hill and the Indiana Stonewall Democrats. Miller was a close friend of former Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Joe Andrew, who helped Miller gain direct notice of former President Bill Clinton. Miller also made generous donations to many gay causes, including Indianapolis' Damien Center. A testing center for HIV/AIDS at the Center is named in his honor.

Former Indianapolis Star columnist and fellow blogger Ruth Holladay first broke news of Miller's rumored suicide last Thursday. The mainstream news media has been noticeably silent about Miller's death, despite his stature in the community. Miller is believed to have made hundreds of millions of dollars from his popper business, in addition to other businesses he owned. He once boasted that his company was the largest single advertiser in gay publications. After various research studies and news reports back in the 1980s linked poppers to the spread of HIV/AIDS among gay men, most gay publications stopped running advertisements for the product. Early in the HIV/AIDS crisis, some researchers believed poppers were the cause of the disease because so many of the victims shared a common use of the drug. Other studies have shown a causal link between the use of poppers and Kaposi's sarcoma, a disease often associated with persons infected with HIV/AIDS. Poppers are also believed to cause cell mutations and leads to suppressed immune systems in users. Physicians sometime prescribe nitrates in pill form for treatment of certain heart conditions, but it is illegal to market nitrates for recreational use by humans without a prescription.

After laws were enacted to crack down on their use as an inhalant recreational drug, Miller and other manufacturers became creative in their marketing efforts and claimed the product was being sold as a room deodorizer and video head cleaner, although it was no secret that those who purchased it did so for use as a recreational drug during sex. Many gay men began dropping dead from sudden deaths years later when Viagra first hit the market. The interaction of the two drugs for sexual encounters causes a deadly drop in blood pressure. An Atlanta gay activist died in June of this year after combining the prescription drug Levitra with poppers.

Miller was honored, along with U.S. Rep. Andre Carson,  by the Indiana Stonewall Democrats just last year at an event in the home of Indianapolis City-County Councilor Jackie Nytes. Controversial radio talk show host Abdul Hakim Shabazz covered the event on behalf of Bilerico, a nationally-recognized gay blog which promoted the event honoring Miller. Former Secretary of State Joe Hogsett, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis, served as a co-host for the event.

UPDATE: A reader of the Star paper edition (yeah, there still are a few) says it appeared in the Saturday paper. I didn't see it in the Sunday early edition that comes out on Saturday. There are different versions that come out each day. The online version of the story certainly disappeared before it would typically be archived.

Joe "The Popper King" Miller Dead

Joe Miller, one of the largest financial contributors to Indiana Democrats and the world's largest manufacturer of Poppers is dead according to fellow blogger Ruth Holladay. She says a source tells her he took his own life last night:

A known contributor to Dem causes, Joe Miller, a gay man, has died. By his own hand.

Tragic.

Here is a portion of an email from a source:

"You've probably heard that Joe Miller died late last night. Joe was a controversial figure in the gay community---I'm sure you've heard of his travels and tribulations. He made lots of money and spread it around. Rumors about his lifestyle are rampant, and always hahve been. Yet, he was largely a recluse."

I wrote earlier this summer about how an Atlanta gay activist died after using Poppers while he was on the prescription drug Levitra. Miller's company, Great Lakes Products, illegally distributed Poppers as a recreational inhalant largely in the gay community, where it is sold in gay bars, adult bookstores and over the Internet. Miller once boasted that he was the largest manufacturer of Poppers in the world and spent more money than any other business on advertising in gay publications. Miller gave large campaign contributions to politicians like the late U.S. Rep. Julia Carson, former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and U.S. Rep. Baron Hill. According to Indiana campaign finance data, Miller and his businesses contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Indiana Democratic committees and candidates in recent years. He also donated generously to Indianapolis' Damien Center, which aids in the treatment of people suffering from HIV/AIDS. Ironically, Miller's product played a key role in the spread of HIV/AIDS among gay men, although the proven connection was largely ignored by the mainstream media. Indianapolis media rarely reported on Miller, who was one of Indianapolis' most successfull businessmen.

Poppers Kill Gay Activist, Will Gay Community And Law Enforcement Wake Up?

An Atlanta gay activist died this week after inhaling poppers, an amyl nitrate inhalant popular in gay culture, while he was on the prescription drug Levitra. GA Voice reports on the death of Greg Barrett:

Friends and family of Greg Barrett came together at Christ Covenant MCC in Decatur June 7 to honor his life and remember his community volunteerism. Barrett died June 3.

Attendees remembered Barrett, 43, for his dedication to local nonprofit organizations as well on the impact he had on friends and family.

A long-time Atlanta Pride volunteer, Barrett was actively involved with several Atlanta-based nonprofit organizations, including the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus and AIDS Walk Atlanta.

JP Sheffield, executive director of Atlanta Pride, said of Barrett, “Greg was a really, really good man. I know Pride was really important to Greg, but everything he did was important. That’s the kind of character he had.”

“I can’t count the number of times Greg Barrett was there for me,” Sheffield said at the memorial service . . .

According to a police report obtained by Project Q Atlanta, Barrett was visiting a friend on June 2 and inhaled the recreational drug poppers and took a tablet of Levitra, a prescription drug for erectile dysfunction. When he did not wake the next morning, the friend called an ambulance; Barrett was dead at the scene.

Levitra warns that it should not be used with poppers. Police do not think Barrett’s death was the result of foul play, but they are awaiting the results of a toxicology report, Project Q reported.

Most people who use poppers have no idea that the recreational use of the inhalant can have deadly consequences and destroys the body's immune system over long-time use. Poppers have been popular in the gay community, in particular, since the 1970s. Users inhale small bottles of liquid purchased at gay bars, adult bookstores and over the Internet for about $12 to $14 for a quick high. They are often used during intercourse as a way of relaxing the anal muscle, making it easier for gay users to engage in rough sex. Many deaths from the use of poppers go unreported because medical examiners are unaware the decedent used them prior to dying and the death is attributed to other causes. In the case of Barrett's death, a witness was able to tell investigators that he had inhaled poppers while taking the prescription drug Levitra a short time before his death.

When the HIV/AIDS epidemic hit in the early 1980s, medical researchers initially believed poppers were a possible cause of the newly-discovered disease but later dismissed it as the cause, instead taking the position that a retrovirus spread through sexual contact and blood transfusions contaminated with the virus caused the deadly disease. Other researchers insist there is a causal link, however, between the use of poppers and Kaposi's sarcoma, a form of skin cancer often associated with gay men suffering from HIV/AIDS. While many believe the popularity of the inhalant's use has dropped off in the gay community, its use is actually more widespread than ever. Doctors fail to warn their patients of the danger posed to them when they combine the use of poppers with other prescription drugs. When Viagra, Cialis, Levitra and similar drugs became popular for treating erectile dysfunction, gay men began dropping dead after using poppers while on one of the prescription drugs. The combination of Viagra and poppers causes a sudden drop in blood pressure that can lead to death. Public health warnings were posted in gay bars several years ago warning about the deadly combination, but a wider public health campaign against the use of poppers never ensued.

Indianapolis has been home to a company that claimed to be the largest manufacturer of poppers in the world. Joe Miller's company manufactures Rush, which is the most popular popper drug being marketed. Miller, who is shown at left with the late U.S. Rep. Julia Carson, has been a major benefactor of the Democratic Party and its candidates, and makes very generous contributions to organizations that help serve the HIV/AIDS population. An HIV/AIDS testing center at Indianapolis' Damien Center is named after Miller. City-County Councilor Jackie Nytes hosted an event last year at her home for the Stonewall Democrats which gave an award to Miller for his contributions. Miller once offered to match dollar for dollar every dollar raised by Indiana's Stonewall Democrats. Miller gave former Mayor Bart Peterson $10,000 in his unsuccessful re-election bid and has given thousands of dollars to U.S. Rep. Baron Hill (D) and the late-U.S. Rep. Julia Carson (D), who considered him a close campaign adviser. Peterson is now a top executive with Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Cialis.

The poppers industry once claimed to be the biggest money- maker in the gay world, grossing upwards of $50 million per year. At the peak of their popularity in the 1980s, gay publications generated substantial revenues they received from running full-page, four-color ads for the various brands of poppers. In a 1983 letter to the Advocate, Miller boasted that his Great Lakes Products, Inc. was the "largest advertiser in the Gay press". Gay publications later ceased advertising for poppers when they realized they were helping market a drug illegally that is essentially no different than advertising the sale of marijuana, cocaine, heroine or other controlled substances.

What many people don't understand is that poppers continue to be illegally distributed in the gay community and elsewhere as an inhalant drug. The possession of poppers is not illegal; however, they cannot be sold legally for human consumption without a physician's prescription. Manufacturers claim they are sold as room deodorizers or video head cleaner with a wink and a nod. Alkyl or amyl nitrates can only be used for human consumption if they are legally prescribed by a doctor for use in treating certain heart conditions, but even then, manufacturers of prescription drugs like Viagra, Levitra and Cialis carry warnings to avoid taking the drug while using alkyl or amyl nitrates prescribed by a physician. Law enforcement in the United States has basically ignored the illegal sale of poppers in this country. As long as it's gays killing gays, who gives a shit. Right? A book entitled "Death Rush, Poppers and AIDS" warned gays about the deadly use of poppers. The book's authors write:

Poppers have become an accepted, even obligatory part of the gay male lifestyle. With regular use they become a sexual crutch, and many gay men are incapable of having sex, even masturbation, without the aid of poppers. Since poppers have become necessary for them to function sexually, giving them up ... would seem like giving up sex itself....

“Five different studies found that exposure to amyl or isobutyl nitrite, either through injection or inhalation, caused immunological deficiency in mice. One of those studies further found that the mice exposed to nitrite vapors suffered gross pathological lung damage, weight loss, and most significantly, reversed T-cell ratios.... In a sixth study, mice exposed to low dosages of isobutyl nitrite vapors developed methemoglobinemia and thymic atrophy.... Poppers are known to cause methemoglobinemia in humans. (Methemoglobinemia is a form of anemia where the blood turns brown and where the oxygen supply to critical organs is reduced.) ... Autopsies of AIDS victims show the thymus gland to be destroyed in 100% of the cases. No thymus gland, no immune system.

“A seventh mice study could not be carried through to completion. All of the mice died.”

As gays celebrate Pride events across the country during the month of June, they should heed the advice of people who have actually studied the harmful use of poppers and stop using them. It may cost them their life as Greg Barrett learned this week after it was too late.