Court records: Indy man took money from nonprofit to solicit teen, pay for sex
Police arrested an Indianapolis man accused of using donations from his nonprofit to pay for sex acts and solicit a minor, according to court documents.
Tyree Coleman, 43, is the founder of Refuge Place Indy, which uses donations to assist homeless people in Indianapolis, according to court records. He is commonly known as Elder Coleman. Court records also connected him to Seven Pillars Faith Ministry/Refuge, but police said they could find no physical location for the organization.
Coleman is facing charges of rape, promotion of child sex trafficking, promotion of human sex trafficking and two counts of intimidation.
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Coleman met the man he is accused of raping through his organization assisting homeless people, according to the probable cause affidavit for his arrest.
An attorney for Coleman was not yet listed in online court records. The phone number for his organization went straight to voicemail when IndyStar reached out for comment Monday.
Prayers and offers of clothing, shoes
Police began investigating Coleman in June 2022. Two teenage boys, ages 16 and 17, told police they were near Watkins Park when they saw Coleman and a group of men grilling and listening to music under a shelter.
The group waved the teens over. Coleman told the teens he was the elder of a local ministry, asked if they could pray together and said he wanted to buy them clothes and shoes, the teens told police.
After praying, Coleman and the teens exchanged phone numbers. Coleman later texted the 17-year-old boy and sent him money for new shoes. Then Coleman began occasionally praying with the teen on FaceTime.
While on a call, Coleman told the teen he was a registered sex offender, but God changed his ways, according to the affidavit. He also informed the teen of his sexual preferences then offered to buy the teen church clothes if they could meet at the mall.
The 17-year-old declined to meet with Coleman, who also offered up to $1,000 for sex. The teen blocked Coleman's number and stopped interacting with him, police said.
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The Department of Child Services interviewed Coleman while investigating. Coleman told the DCS worker he did nothing wrong and never made any propositions to the teenagers for anything sexual.
About one week after police spoke with the 17-year-old, Coleman was arrested on a charge of failure to register as a sex or violent offender. He was released from jail three days later on July 1, 2022.
A search warrant was granted for Coleman’s phones. Several messages showed Coleman offering unidentified men money for sexual intercourse or nude photos and videos, according to the affidavit.
Second accusation made against Elder Coleman
As the investigation continued, police received another complaint against Coleman. A man told police he became homeless in Indianapolis after arriving on a Greyhound bus in December.
The man was stranded without an ID after the bus left him behind, without his belongings, when he got off to use the bathroom. The man was traveling to northern Indiana from Missouri and no family members could pick him up in Indianapolis.
The man met Coleman while seeking food and clothes from church groups that assist homeless people downtown.
Coleman encouraged the man to get baptized and later told the man he could stay at his home and use it as transitional housing, according to the affidavit. Coleman took the man to buy new shoes and while in the store asked him about his sexual preferences.
After about a week and a half of living at the home, Coleman offered the man a phone and his own bedroom then asked for sexual favors, the man told police.
Coleman paid the man using donations people gave to the church.
After being raped while staying at the house the man was left with physical and emotional trauma, according to the affidavit. He did not initially call police because he had nowhere else to stay except Coleman’s house, he told investigators.
Coleman was arrested on the new charges Friday. He was previously convicted of criminal deviate conduct and sexual misconduct with a minor in 2008. He was sentenced to 10 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with five years of a suspended sentence, court records show.
Coleman often in the spotlight
WTHR reported Coleman was an assistant pastor and assaulted a 15-year-old boy following a church-sponsored event in the sex crime he was convicted of in 2008.
In the past few years, Coleman’s organization has been featured in local media with Coleman or his volunteers asking the public for donations.
In November, FOX59 reported the organization was providing about 150 homeless people with food at its events and was going to be giving out supplies for the winter.
In May, IndyStar interviewed Coleman for a profile about a woman killed in a downtown stabbing who he assisted through his organization.
While the organization often does outreach to people in need, there is no record of a partnership or award of funding between the city and Refuge Place Indy, according to the Office of Public Health and Safety.
Anyone with information on human trafficking activities can contact the IMPD human trafficking unit at at 317-327-1270.
Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Police: Tyree Coleman took money from nonprofit to solicit teen
