Hammond Male Charged With Child Solicitation and Drug Charges
On February 14, 2025 around 6:40 PM, Portage Police responded to a call from NWI Predator Catchers in reference to a Hammond man coming to meet a 13-year-old girl to provide her “meth”.
The man now identified as Mark Landes, 52, of Hammond was stopped by Portage Police and immediately told police he knew it was a sting and was attempting to prove someone wrong. Landes went on to say, he met someone on the Grindr app. Officers asked Landes to step out of the vehicle and he said he had committed no crime or never left his vehicle.
Officers again told Landes to get out of his vehicle because paraphernalia was in plain view. Landes exited the vehicle and was searched. Officers found lighters, a silicone sex toy, a bottle of toxic chemical labeled Elix Pentyl, and a bottle of KY Jelly on his person. Meanwhile a K9 did a sniff of the vehicle and found 6 glass pipes for smoking meth & marijuana and a crystal like substance which was confirmed as Meth.
Landes was detained and placed in cuffs. Landes told officers he has seen the show, “To Catch A Predator” and they have to go inside to be arrested. Landes continued to make comments about Chris Hansen the host through the encounter.
When interviewed at the station by Detectives Landes was told they had seen the text conversations between him and a 13 year old decoy that were sexually explicit. Landes acknowledged that he was aware of the age of the female he was meeting was 13 years old. (The conversations were not released at the time of this article.)
Landes was a member of a local band called the Muddsharks who immediately removed him when they found out what had transpired. The band released a statement saying, “We would like to address some disturbing news that has come to light as all of you may know as well. We would like to publicly say we do not accept, condone, support these actions or affiliate with this individual any further as we are sure more information is being unraveled. We can say that this individual has been removed from the band effective immediately and no further or future contact with us as we revamp and rebrand. We thank you for your continued support especially through this unsettling discovery.”
Mark Landes has been charged with:
Child Solicitation – Level 4 Felony
Child Solicitation- Level 5 Felony
Possession of Meth – Level 6 Felony
Possession of Cocaine – Level 6 Felony
Possession of Paraphernalia – Misdemeanor
