LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Documents released in Clark County Thursday shed more light on the new felony charges filed against former sheriff Jamey Noel and his wife Misty.
Indiana State Police (ISP) Lt. Jeffrey Hearon alleged in a probable cause affidavit that the Noels failed to report over $360,000 in income on their taxes over a five-year period. Jamey is accused of orchestrating a vehicle trading and selling scheme where he traded in cars registered to the Utica Township Volunteer Firefighters Association (UTVFA) for vehicles he then registered to himself for personal use.
RELATED: Former Indiana sheriff Jamey Noel now facing 25 felony charges; wife Misty turns herself in
In one case, he sold the vehicle he received from a trade and failed to note the income on his taxes. He is also accused of using $82,000 in UTVFA funds to make child support payments to a former Clark County councilwoman and neglecting to include the payments on his taxes.
Noel ran the UTVFA until he was ousted in January.
According to the documents, Jamey and Misty filed joint tax returns during this timeframe. They both face five felony counts of theft and five felony counts of tax evasion.
Jamey was previously charged in November with 15 felonies, including counts of corrupt business practices, ghost employment, official misconduct, theft and tax evasion. He pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Trading and selling vehicles
According to documents, Jamey and Misty failed to report income from the sale of a 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat to the UTVFA. Jamey traded a 2017 Chevy 3500 Silverado owned by the UTVFA for the Hellcat. The Hellcat was then titled to Jamey. In October 2019, Jamey sold the Hellcat to the UTVFA for $83,716. That was not reported on the couple's taxes.
In another instance, Jamey and Misty reportedly failed to report $92,000 of income from the sale/trade of a 2020 Corvette. Jamey traded the Corvette, owned by the UTVFA, in May 2021 for a 2020 Mercedes S-Class 450.
In August 2022, Jamey sold a Kubota tractor that was owned by the UTVFA to a private buyer for $31,000. The funds were deposited into Jamey's personal account according to documents.
In addition to two other vehicles transfers, the probable cause affidavit cited at least $278,216 in income that was not reported between 2019 and 2022.
Child support payments and a home in Florida
According to court documents, Jamey and Misty Noel failed to report $82,169 worth of income over three years that was used to pay child support to Brittney Ferree. The money was paid directly to Ferree for her child with Jamey, but out of the UTVFA fund. The payments were made in 2020 -- 2022.
The ISP investigation previously uncovered Jamey fathered a child with former Clark County Councilwoman Brittney Ferree and he was ordered to make child support payments.
State police also accuse them of paying for $6,802 worth of pool repairs at their home in Naples, FL using UTVFA accounts; they did not declare that income used to pay for the repairs.
The amount of income the Noels did not report from vehicle transactions, pool repairs and child support payments is $360,385 documents show.
The Noels purchased their Florida residence in July 2020 for $275,000, according to Collier County online real estate records. That home went up for sale this week with an asking price of $769,000.
Other homes owned by the Noels
The Noels are accused of illegally claiming a primary residence tax credit on their joint taxes for several years for a home in Henryville, IN. In one tax filing, the Noels said they had owned the home since 1996 and sold it in 2018. However, after looking through property records, ISP determined the Noels bought the home in May 2017, and sold it in September 2018.
IRS Tax Publication 523 says a home qualifies for an "exclusion of gain" if you lived at a home for two of the previous five years, which the Noels reportedly did not.
$3.6 million in fire department credit cards
State investigators previously reported they had found $4.8 million dollars worth of personal purchases Noel had made using UTFVA credit cards. The purchases were at home department stores, cigar stores, travel agents, seamstresses and tailors and more.
On Thursday, state investigators gave a month-by-month breakdown for $3.6 million worth of purchases between 2018 and 2022. They attributed $2.8 million worth of purchases to Jamey and $660,806 to Misty.
All the purchases were reportedly on firefighters association credit cards, and contained no personal payments or reimbursements from the Noels. The purchases included dental bills, phone bills, Amazon.com purchases, tanning beds, purchases at Victoria's Secret, alcohol, household utilities and more.
Case background
The ISP investigation into Jamey Noel started in June 2023 when authorities believed Noel instructed Clark County jail employees to work on his personal and rental properties, and run errands for him while working on county time and being compensated with public funds.
Noel's vast automobile collection has also come under scrutiny by investigators.
According to court documents, 133 vehicles are registered to the Utica Township Volunteer Fire Department and New Chapel EMS. A review of those vehicles showed several were "inconsistent" with a not-for-profit fire department and EMS business.
Among those 24 vehicles are several Cadillacs, Chevrolet Camaros and Chevrolet Corvettes. Last week, Hearon filed additional probable cause affidavits related to Jamey's vehicles.
Jamey was in charge of the UTVFA until he was ousted earlier this month.
In December, investigators accused Jamey of unlawfully purchasing a Cessna airplane.
Misty was arrested and charged Thursday. She is being held without bond until a court hearing scheduled for her and her husband on Monday.
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