LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Friday is the deadline for defendants in Attorney General Todd Rokita's lawsuits against Jamey Noel and his associates to respond to the state's official complaints. The answers have been rolling in for the last few weeks; the former sheriff was the last to submit his after 5 p.m. Friday.
Rokita's office is suing Noel to try and get back roughly $4 million that it says was taken from Indiana taxpayers, the Utica Township Volunteer Firefighters Association (UTVFA) and the Clark County Sheriff's Office from 2018 to 2023. There are two lawsuits, one for alleged theft from the sheriff's office and one for alleged theft from the fire and EMS operations.
The fire and EMS lawsuit is more costly, to the tune of roughly $3.6 million, and names Jamey Noel, his wife Misty Noel, and their daughters Gracy, Kasey, and Josey as defendants. Gracy and Josey are accused of getting their college tuition paid for using fire department funds, and Kasey is accused of making over $100,000 in purchases using a fire department credit card.
In Josey and Gracy's response to the lawsuit, they denied knowing that the UTVFA was a nonprofit. Rokita's office accuses them of taking control of assets and funds that didn't belong to them, and the sisters pled the 5th Amendment in responding to that section.
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In Jamey Noel's response to the lawsuit, he almost entirely denied the attorney general's complaints. He admitted to material facts, such that he was the sheriff from 2015-2022, and was the CEO of UTVFA. He denied giving Kevin Wilkerson permission to use department credit cards for anything "within reason."
Wilkerson is a current UTVFA employee who is accused of making $40,000 in purchases. Wilkerson admitted to taking control of the card and buying personal items but said, "that he believed in good faith these purchases were allowed, as he was not aware of the nature and structure of the entity that would prohibit these purchases.”
While he admitted some of the charges were personal in nature, he disputed the total amount.
In Kasey's response, she admitted to being New Chapel EMS' executive assistant for a period of time.
The other lawsuit is trying to get back roughly $900,000 for the Clark County Sheriff's Office. The named parties are Jamey Noel, Kenneth Hughbanks and Auto-Owners Insurance Company. Hughbanks is a fellow Southern Indiana Republican who is accused of being Noel's business associate for several years.
Hughbanks is not charged with anything criminally, but has been mentioned to have received roughly $250,000 from the sheriff's office during Noel's tenure for vague consulting work.
Hughbanks submitted his answer to the lawsuit on June 28, according to his new attorney Jimmy Guilfoyle. He denied receiving unsupported payments, denied that he received payments Clark County officials didn't approve, and denied receiving a monthly payment from the jail commissary fund.
Noel admitted to dates of Hughbanks' employment with the Clark County Sheriff's Office. He also admitted that "starting in 2015" Hughbanks began submitting invoices to the sheriff's office. However, he denied that the sheriff's office filled those requests, specifically from the jail commissary fund.
Auto-Owners Insurance Company is alleged to have provided bonds to cover dishonest practices, and in response the company said, "The documents attached speak for themselves." Its attorneys also said they are without knowledge to comment on a total amount.
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