LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The investigation into a former southern Indiana sheriff facing 15 felony charges is zeroing in on his massive automobile collection and how he may have been stealing department funds, according to new court documents released Monday.
Authorities conducted another round of search warrants last Friday on properties connected to Jamey Noel, who previously served as Clark County sheriff. Indiana State Police Lt. Jeffrey Hearon, the lead investigator on the case, filed additional probable cause affidavits Monday that shed more light on the investigation, including $100,000 in missing police radios and stolen military surplus equipment.
11 vehicles audited
Hearon conducted an audit of all vehicles owned by the Utica Township Volunteer Firefighter Association, which was run by Noel until he was ousted earlier this month. Previous court documents last fall noted 133 vehicles were registered to the non-profit organization.
Eleven vehicles were found to have been "suspiciously transferred or sold" from the Clark County Sheriff's Department to the UTVFA or "associated businesses where Jamey Noel was the fire chief, chief executive officer and/or chief financial officer." Those vehicles include three 2014 Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks, one school bus, one ambulance, one flatbed tow truck and a refrigerator truck.
Another vehicle in question is a 2009 Dodge Ram 1500, which Noel purchased in June 2019 on behalf of the Clark County Sheriff's Department from the UTVFA for $11,000. He wrote UTVFA a check from the sheriff's commissary fund and deposited it into UTVFA's account, according to court documents.
On July 6, 2021, Noel, acting as UTVFA CEO, traded in the same vehicle he sold to the sheriff's department for a 2021 Ram Promaster Cargo Van. Noel received $10,000 in trade allowance and then "fraudulently transferred/stole $11,000" from the sheriff's department to the UTFVA.
Court documents also show all three of the Silverados were transferred to Utica for zero dollars.
Clark County Sheriff Assistant Chief Mark Grube suggested safeguards have since been implemented to prevent similar instances in the future.
"We believe there is a system in place to prevent this, with that said all future transfers of county property to another agency will be approved in writing by the County Commissioners before any transfer is made," Grube said. "We are committed to transparency and any future request to transfer property will be done in a public forum at the Clark County Commissioners' regular business meetings."
A 2011 Blue Bird school bus was purchased by Noel in his CEO capacity. The bus was titled as owned by the UTVFA with a purchase price of $12,000, however it was paid for with a Clark County Sheriff's Department commissary check.
According to documents, the bus was purchased at an auction in Fort Wayne, Ind., and was originally owned by the U.S. government. According to a sheriff's department employee, documents state, Noel instructed him to drive to Fort Wayne on county time and transport the bus to the sheriff's department in Jeffersonville.
A review of BMV title documents show the bus was transferred to the Clark County Sheriff's Department on Dec. 28, 2022, three days before Noel's term as sheriff ended.
Missing police radios
Monday's documents also included information regarding dozens of missing police radios.
On Dec. 19, Hearon stated he received a phone call from Clark County Sheriff Maj. Michael Willen. He explained to the investigator he traveled to John Jones Police Pursuit Vehicles in Salem to check the progress of department vehicles being equipped with lights, radios and sirens.
Willen observed several radios marked "New Chapel Fire/EMS," which is the same entity as UTVFA, in a storage bin. Willen said he knew the department was missing radios and the units he spotted appeared to contain the same make and model numbers of some of the missing equipment.
RELATED: Misty Noel, wife of former Indiana sheriff facing felony charges, charged with theft and tax evasion
Willen later located an inventory list and determined one of the radios marked as New Chapel's was owned by the Clark County Sheriff's Department. An audit revealed 38 radios were missing, valued at over $100,000.
Monday's documents also revealed investigators located stolen military surplus equipment in Noel's possession, and are probing whether Noel used over $6,500 in commissary funds to pay for a new heating and cooling system at a facility at 1800 Patrol Rd. in Charlestown.
The ISP affidavit said this was the address for "the Charlestown Volunteer Fire Department which is ran by Utica Fire Department which Jamey Noel is the Chief." However, Charlestown VFD Chief John Heal says this is false. Heal says the HVAC system was installed at a building CFD used to own but was given to Noel's companies some years ago. He says it is near CFD station 93 --built in 2020-- but is not the same building.
"This department has never been associated with Jamey Noel," Heal said over the phone Tuesday.
Case background
The investigation into Noel started 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.
In December, investigators accused Noel of unlawfully purchasing a Cessna airplane.
The investigation has also uncovered Noel fathered a child with former Clark County Councilwoman Brittney Ferree and made child support payments with non-profit funds.
Earlier this month, the special prosecutor in the case said in open court the state is prepared to move forward with charges against Misty Noel, Jamey's wife. The nature of those charges or a timeline for filing them was not discussed.
Noel was charged in November with 15 felonies, including counts of corrupt business practices, ghost employment, official misconduct, theft and tax evasion. He pleaded not guilty.
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