JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — Indiana State Police served multiple search warrants Wednesday at a home owned by former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel.
ISP spokesperson Capt. Ron Galaviz confirmed to WHAS11 News that the warrants were served at a home located at the 3000 block of Old Tay Bridge in Jeffersonville. Online real estate records confirm the home is owned by Noel.
Galaviz would not confirm exactly who the home belonged to but said it belonged to a Clark County public official. He said the allegations involve fraud, tax evasion, ghost employment and official misconduct.
Current Clark County Sheriff Scottie Maples released a statement on Thursday afternoon stating that he and the department believes that Noel "was not legally entitled to all of the personal time off he was being paid for after his resignation."
"My office will not pay him any additional leave and will work with the state to claw back any funds that were improperly paid," Maples said.
His full statement reads:
“Several months ago, a review by my office uncovered troubling evidence of potential criminal activity including financial and payroll irregularities involving former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel. We sent that evidence to the Indiana State Police for an independent investigation and provided all the assistance we could. As part of our cooperation with ISP, we were asked not to say or do anything that could have compromised the investigation. After yesterday’s search warrants were executed, I can now say that we believe Jamey Noel was not legally entitled to all of the personal time off he was being paid for after his resignation. My office will not pay him any additional leave and will work with the state to claw back any funds that were improperly paid. Please refer any questions to the Indiana State Police as this is an ongoing investigation”
After hearing about the search warrant, some Clark County residents like Logan Dailey and his brother Levi, wanted to see it for themselves.
"We just thought this was the biggest news that has came out of this area in a long time, so we just felt like coming down and seeing it with our own eyes," Logan said.
"Where there is smoke there is fire so if the allegations are true then I think they should be investigating every local government in Clark County," Levi said.
Until then, the brothers are waiting patiently to hear about what ISP found during the search warrant.
"If you don't have transparency that's how corruption continues on," Logan said. "You know if the people don't know what their government is doing the government gets to do what they want."
Clark County prosecutor Jeremy Mull told WHAS11 that ISP is working with a special prosecutor in the case.
Controversy surrounded Noel's tenure and he was sued by several women who claimed they were abused inside the county jail.
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