Judge Jesse Villalpando of Hammond, IN; serial scofflaw

The state of Indiana presented Jesse M. Villalpando with a law license in 1984 after he graduated from Indiana University School of Law.

Former Gov. Frank O’Bannon was duped into appointing Jesse to a seat on the Lake Superior Court 2000. Jesse didn’t get the appointment because he was the most qualified lawyer in the greater Hammond area. He got it because he had proven to be a reliable lackey for the local political hacks.

It should be noted that Jesse has had his significant snout firmly planted in the public trough the past thirty-four (34) years. Apparently, no self-respecting law firm in the greater Hammond area was about to offer Jesse a good paying job.

The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications has charged Jesse with engaging in the following misconduct.

• Refused to process more than 50 criminal cases the Lake County prosecutor's office wanted filed in his court
• Engaged in a dereliction of duty
• Refused to proceed with cases of domestic violence, DUIs, drug charges and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and traffic violations
• Dereliction of duty led to three defendants being illegally held in the County Jail for more than 48 hours after their initial arrest without a judicial determination the state had probable cause to charge them with criminal offenses.
• Engaged in a pattern of conduct whereby, not only did he routinely make unsubstantiated assertions of conspiracies against him by others, but he also has made implicit threats against others about what he would do if they opposed him
• Attacked fellow judges for more than a decade, accusing them of tampering with the administration of his court and him making veiled threats to have the FBI investigate his opponents
• Made statements on the record accusing other officials/agencies of fraud, without corroborative information
• Distributed correspondence accusing various colleagues and public officials of conspiring against him, without corroboration
• Opposed changes made in local courts' administrative procedures to accommodate new local electronic records system
• Stopped making probable cause determinations for several days, forcing other local judicial officers to do extra work to ensure criminal defendants rights were protected
• His record proves he’s unable or unwilling to perform duties expected of judicial officers

All that remains now is to see what if any punishment is meted out to Jesse by the enablers for Judicial Misfits sitting on the Indiana Supreme Court.

As we speak (ca. September 2018), Jesse continues to sit as a Lake County Superior Court judge in Hammond, Indiana.