(La Porte County, IN) - Charges are filed in connection with a La Porte County Jail inmate seriously injured when punched and hit with a lunch tray by another offender.

 

Jordan Wasy, 24, is charged in La Porte Circuit Court with Level 5 felony battery.

 

According to court documents, Kenneth Keller was taken to Northwest Health in La Porte after a jail officer after the alleged attack noticed him vomiting blood.

 

Keller, 55, was transferred to Community Health Hospital in Munster where he began receiving treatment for a fractured orbital, which are the bones that make up the eye socket, along with a minor brain bleed and laceration to his eye, court records disclosed.

 

The investigation revealed Keller on Monday walked from his cell to a table where Wasy was eating his dinner. During an exchange of words, Wasy allegedly stood up and struck Keller in the face with his plastic lunch tray.      

 

He then punched Keller twice to the head area, police said.

 

Wasy suffered a laceration to his right eyebrow during what turned into a fight between the offenders.

 

In January, Wasy wound up in the jail on allegations of using a counterfeit $50 bill to purchase three packs of cigarettes at the Speedway station at U.S. 35 and U.S. 20, police said.

 

Wasy, listed as homeless at the time, was given a pre-trial release on his own recognizance several days later.

 

However, he was taken back into custody on separate occasions for repeated violations of the terms of his court ordered release, according to court records.

 

Keller of Knox was in the jail on allegations he violated the terms of his probation on a child molesting conviction from 2022, court records showed.

 

Wasy could face anywhere from a one to six year sentence.