Investigation leads to the arrest of Huntington business owner

HUNTINGTON – A five-month-long investigation by the Indiana State Police concluded earlier Wednesday with the arrest of a Huntington business owner for alleged racketeering or corrupt business influence.

James R. Emley

This ISP investigation, which began back in June of 2023, identified James R. Emley, 51, of Huntington as being suspect in a series of individual complaints alleging racketeering type business activity from August 2021 through April 2023.  In each of the seven individual complaints identified during the investigation, the customers (victims) all alleged having entered into a business contract(s) with James Emley and having paid thousands of dollars upfront to have him build custom food truck(s).  The reported amounts of money paid by each victim ranged from $20,000- $50,000.00, and the total amount of money involved in all seven complaints totaled over $200,000.00.  The investigation alleges that Emley received the funds but never fulfilled any of the contracts. 

This morning at approximately 10:00 a.m., officers from the Indiana State Police Fort Wayne Post, Allen County Police, and FBI joint investigative task force went to Emley’s place of business- FFT, LLC located at 1489 West Park Drive in Huntington, to execute a search warrant.  At the same time, officers went to Emley’s residence in the 4000 block of West River Road, Huntington, armed with an arrest warrant for Emley.  He was located at home and taken into custody without incident. 

Emley was transported to the Huntington County jail where he was booked into custody on a charge of committing corrupt business influence, a Level 5 Felony under IC 35-45-6-2.