GoFundMe Page Started So Joliet Man Charged With Miley Cyrus Gang Bar Beating Can 'Put This Disaster Behind Him'

A GoFundMe page was started to bankroll the legal defense of a Joliet man charged with the Miley Cyrus Gang attack earlier this month in a Hickory Street bar.

Ryan Elliott, 27, of 1310 Cora St. was charged with only a misdemeanor in connection with the beating he allegedly dished out with the help of two pals at Lety's Place. But five days after that incident, prosecutors filed felony aggravated battery charges against Elliott for an alleged attack at a different Joliet bar last year.

Elliott ended up in the Will County jail on the felonies but was released after five days when his bond was reduced from $250,000 to $50,000.

The GoFundMe page, which says it was created by Sharon Tiane Lee, shows photos of Elliott with family, including his mother and baby daughter.

"Please check out this page to help raise money for Ryan," the appeal for charity says.

"Since this incident has taken a whole new life, thanks to the media, he has to hire a defence attorney which will run him a pretty penny. Not to mention take care of his wife and infant daughter," the page says.

The page explains that "a couple of (Elliott's) friends and family have joined together to pay it forward" since he is "being made out to be someone we all know he's not."

"He needs your help," the page says, "so that he can put this disaster behind him."

Elliott caught his felony case for allegedly punching Joliet resident Jim Lanham in the face in June. Lanham said he was at the Essington Road bar On the Rocks when Elliott—who had been in a confrontation with other bar patrons—attacked him without provocation.

"I was just standing there," Lanham said. "I wasn't part of the fight or anything."

Lanham said a punch from Elliott broke his nose.

Earlier this month, Elliott and two friends—Daniel Lahey, 26, of 2424 Morning Glory Lane in Crest Hill and Robert Krapil, 27, of 2806 Amanda Court in Joliet—were arrested for allegedly attacking two men and a woman at Lety's Place.

The three walked into the Hickory Street tavern and "started talking about Miley Cyrus" before beating up the men and woman, police said of Elliott, Lahey and Krapil, who have since become known as the "Miley Cyrus Gang." The story of the alleged Lety's Place attack has garnered national attention.

One of the two men who said he was beaten by the Miley Cyrus Boys at Lety's Place detailed the alleged attack in a video featured on Patch. The man, Donny Rice, told how the gang subjected a bar patron to racial slurs and told him to "go over and sit over at the other end of the bar with all of the other Mexicans."

Rice said the gang then began beating the Hispanic man and his girlfriend—whom he did not know but stepped in to try to save.

The "Ryan's Defense" GoFundMe page, which says it was set up six days ago with the goal of raising $10,000, has so far pulled in $155.

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