Indy man charged with raping 14-year-old boy at Tarkington Park bathroom

INDIANAPOLIS — A 35-year-old man is in jail after being charged with raping a 14-year-old boy at Tarkington Park on Indy’s north side.

Walking to his summer job at the MLK center in late June, a 14-year-old boy claims he went into the bathroom at Tarkington Park and was raped by a complete stranger.

Police credit technology like surveillance cameras at the park, along with the assistance of the victim and an alert quick quick-thinking North District officer, for working together to track down and arrest the suspect for the horrific crime.

Brandon Merriweather is now charged with rape, sexual misconduct with a minor, child solicitation and failure to warn that he’s carrying dangerous disease for that alleged assault.

“This 14-year-old experienced something unimaginable that nobody wants to experience.  They’ll be life-long implications, but I’m proud of our officers and the work they were able to do to bring this suspect into custody,” IMPD officer Drew Brown said.

IMPD said the suspect was captured on surveillance cameras going into the bathroom with the young victim.

A picture of the accused rapist was then relayed to the entire department and a few days later, while on patrol in the area, an officer spotted someone who matched that description and stopped Merriweather for jaywalking.

After confirming Merriweather’s identity, the suspect was released, but now that they had a name, police showed his picture to the young victim and the boy picked his alleged attacker out of a photo lineup.

“In this case, we had a victim who experienced something terrible, but was able to cooperate with police and help get descriptions and identify who was allegedly responsible for this,” Brown said.

Just one month before the alleged rape, Merriweather went to court and pleaded guilty to charges that he failed to warn his wife he had a dangerous disease and was HIV positive.

That case was filed in 2021, but a warrant was issued for Merriweather in 2022 for failing to go to court.

The warrant remained active until May 2025, when the suspect was arrested and pleaded guilty.

Despite that history, a judge suspended Merriweather’s entire sentence and he was placed on probation, which he’s accused of violating a few weeks later. He’s now being held without bond.

Merriweather is also facing a separate charge of resisting law enforcement and drug possession after police claim he tried to run away from officers who arrested him last week.