Man accuses Pike County auction organizers of discrimination

PIKE COUNTY, Ind (WEHT) – A man is fighting back after he says he was discriminated against during a property auction in Pike County.

“They have made it quite complicated and difficult and actually stopped melanated people from buying property through that sale, through that company.”

He calls himself Dr. Malcolm Tanner. He showed up with a group of people at the Pike County auction organized by SRI Service, an auction company based out of Indianapolis. Company officials say they require all bidders to show a government issued ID before bidding to prevent fraud. Bidders are also required to fill out a registration form.

SRI organizers and Pike County Commissioner Jeff Nelson says Tanner refused to show his ID.

“There was 130 bidder registrations that did not get accepted to get a number to place a bid,” explained Tanner. “There was only six bidders and all of those were caucasian.”

Commissioner Nelson declined an on-camera interview but tells Eyewitness News: “No one was denied a bid.”

He says the group politely entered the courthouse, and when asked for a government issued ID, the group refused, including Tanner, who Nelson says was the only one in the group bidding.

Tanner says he hasn’t had to show ID at other auctions.

“I bought my property in Elkhart County on April 11th, I showed no ID, I bought 8 properties.”

He says he was shocked when asked for his ID in Pike County, and that he purchased properties in Grant, Greene, and Cass counties without IDs as well. SRI also auctions in those counties.

“They told them that they could not bid on anything unless they had an ID and a social security number … that’s never been the case before.”

Tanner says things got heated between SRI and the group at the auction. He says one SRI employee shoved someone in the group. We reached out to SRI about this allegation, they said they will not speak on pending litigation.