Obtaining a protection order

Location: Indiana

A loved one of mine was recently violently sexually assaulted. He is still in contact with his abuser and I feel that his abuser is starting to directly target me. I don’t feel safe and I also installed security cameras at my house last weekend because of it. I am just not sure if I have enough evidence to support obtaining a protection order.

My loved one is in rehab right now but at some point after he got admitted to rehab, his abuser installed hidden cameras inside the victims home. I know this because the victim told his sister and said that his abuser has access to them. His sister also informed me and asked me to go to the victims home to find them and put a piece of tape over them. I had also been checking on my loved ones home every couple days since he got admitted to rehab and had been going inside to check the mail and make sure everything is okay.

A week ago, the victims sister asked me to go to the victims home to get some of his mail for her and she informed me of the hidden cameras. That was when she asked me to find them and put tape over them. When I got there, there was a note left for me on the door that read “Attention (my name). Surrender your key. (The victim’s name) has made it very clear he wants you to leave him alone. He has asked repeatedly for you to stop contacting him and to stay out of his house. You are trespassing and the police will be called”. The note the abuser left was unsigned and undated. The victims front door has two doors, a heavy screen security door and a weather proof door behind it. Both doors use the same key for the knob and deadbolt and the note was left on the weather proof door so the abuser would have had to have had a key in order to leave the note where he did. The victim also never once told me to stop contacting him or stay out of his house.

I did find one of the hidden cameras and put tape over it and while I was looking for the other one the police showed up. They never asked me who I was or asked me for my ID or anything but they asked me what I was doing there. I told them I was getting mail for the victims sister as the victim is currently in rehab. I said that there are also hidden cameras in the home and the victims sister asked me to find them and put tape over them. One of the cops asked me “who installed the cameras” and I said, (the victims name) is in an abusive situation with (the abusers name) and he would be the only other person who has access to the victims home other than me so it was probably him”. The cop I was primarily talking to looked at his colleague and said “that checks out”. I also showed the cop the hidden camera I found and told him there’s supposedly another one in the kitchen but I couldn’t find it.

The other cop was supposedly speaking to the victim on the phone and the victim asked the police to get the key from me which I gave them. I believe that the victim was being coerced by the abuser to call the police on me and have the key retrieved. Again the police never asked me for my name or ID and they didn’t tell me I was trespassing or give me a warning of any kind. I went to the police station yesterday to try to get the police report for that incident and there is none with my name on it.

I have also documented several incidents of indirect intimidation and harassment over the past couple months by the abuser where he would come over to my loved ones house uninvited, unwanted and without warning. Every time something like that happened it would leave my loved one anxious, angry and suicidal. There was another instance where I picked the victim up from work and when we were almost to his house he abruptly told me to go down a different street and take a slightly different route to his house because his abuser was nearby and he didn’t want to be seen by him.

Do I have enough grounds to file a protection order for myself against the abuser where I’m the protected party and he’s the restrained party? Based on the context I provided would it likely go through?

How should I word my incidents?