Indiana State Police investigators allege Jamey Noel stole millions in his dual roles as Clark County sheriff and head of a nonprofit fire agency. He faces 25 counts including theft, official misconduct and tax evasion, according to authorities.
In Indiana's Clark County — where Lewis and Clark began their 1803 expedition in the southern enclave that sits directly across the Ohio River from historic Louisville — Jamey Noel casts a very long shadow.
He has lived there his entire life. He attended the state's beloved and revered Indiana University, served as a state trooper for 22 years, and became sheriff in 2015. He simultaneously headed the county Republican party, the 9th District GOP, and ran a nonprofit firefighting and rescue agency, the Utica Township Volunteer Firefighters Association, also known as New Chapel EMS.
But his public and private life began crashing around him in June of last year, when Indiana State Police investigators began drilling into his finances. The scope of that probe is staggering, as are the allegations against him.
And their work is far from over. "The investigation hasn't slowed down since its inception, probably just the opposite," the special prosecutor assigned to the case tells Inside Edition Digital. "Not even sure there is an end in sight."
As of now, Noel, 52, is charged with 25 felonies alleging he stole millions in acts of official misconduct that include buying and selling luxury cars with public funds, charging as much as $5 million in personal spending to credit cards he opened for the nonprofit fire and rescue agency and using his deputies as personal gophers and handymen on his private properties while they were on the clock for the sheriff's department.
While sheriff, Noel had an affair with Clark County Council member Brittney Ferree, who later gave birth to Noel's child, according to court documents. Noel is accused of using the nonprofit's funds to pay his court-ordered child support, prosecutors say.
Ferree has not been charged in the state investigation.
He also registered some 130 vehicles, including Corvettes, Cadillacs and a 1959 Chevy Bel-Air, to the volunteer firefighters group, then transferred many into his name, sold them and pocketed the money, prosecutors allege. Board members that oversee the agency told state investigators they were unaware of Noel's alleged illegal acts, saying the group had not met in several years and Noel was in total control, according to court documents.
In February, his wife, Misty, 50, and his daughter, Kasey, 27, were also charged with theft and tax evasion for allegedly charging those fire agency credit cards with personal services including tanning, cosmetics, clothing, Netflix, vape products, beauty appointments and Amazon purchases, according to probable cause affidavits filed in court by prosecutors.
All three have pleaded not guilty. All three are free on bail. Jamey Noel was released an hour after his November arrest, when he posted an all-cash $75,000 bail, court records show. Misty Noel posted an all-cash bail of $30,000 shortly after her arrest in February, as did daughter Kasey, who posted a $20,000 all-cash bail.
A special prosecutor and a special judge were appointed to the case. The Indiana State Police is leading the investigation. Little has been publicly said on the behemoth case. But in court filings, prosecutors have alleged that the Noels have refused to cooperate with investigators. Nearly 50 search warrants have been filed in the probe, including repeated searches of the family's home, cars and other properties.
None of the Noels have publicly commented on the investigation.
On the day Noel was arrested, state police found $50,000 in cash tucked into a dresser drawer at his home, according search warrant documents filed in court.
On March 20, special prosecutor Richard Hertel alleged in court documents that authorities were investigating whether Jamey and Misty Noel had charged nearly $200,000 in tuition and college expenses for their two youngest daughters, to credit cards taken out in the firefighter agency's name.
The Noels have three daughters. Only Kasey has been charged in the state investigation.
"This is an ongoing investigation with criminal charges pending against Jamey Noel, Misty Noel and Kasey Noel," Hertel tells Inside Edition. "The possibility for additional charges on Jamey is real," he said in an email. Because of the ongoing probe, Hertel says he cannot comment in detail.
The Indiana State Police, also citing the ongoing investigation, declined to comment.
Jamey Noel's attorney also declined comment to Inside Edition Digital. Misty Noel's attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Sunnye Bush-Sawtelle, the defense lawyer for Kasey Noel, responded with a statement to Inside Edition Digital's request for comment. Her client, she said, "is presumed innocent until proven guilty and we intend to vigorously examine all aspects of the investigation as information is provided to us. We ask that you keep an open mind as the case progresses and remember that it is the State’s burden to prove every element of each of the charges they have brought against her."
Noel and his department gained national attention when they were featured in the first two seasons of A&E's "60 Days In" from 2016 to 2017. The reality TV series sends citizens posing as prisoners into local jails, where they are filmed by hidden cameras for 60 days to investigate whether there is any abuse or misconduct by both prisoners and corrections staff.
Noel announced his department had changed its policies to address problems highlighted in the cable series, including increasing medical staff and offering counseling and mental health services.
The Clark County Jail was back in national headlines four years later, when more than 20 female prisoners alleged in federal court they were attacked, harassed and sexually assaulted after a deputy, David Lowe, sold the key to the women’s wing for $1,000 to male inmates. Those inmates allegedly roamed the women's lockup, attacking them as they tried to hide under their bunks, according to the federal lawsuit.
That suit is in settlement negotiations. Lowe was fired after the 2021 incident and charged with aiding an escape, official misconduct, and trafficking with an inmate. He has denied all wrongdoing and is free on bail pending a July 23 trial date, according to court records.
Though Noel fired Lowe, he fiercely denied the women had been attacked. He created a website, which has since been taken down, where he posted surveillance videos that he claimed showed no evidence of female prisoners being hurt or assaulted.
In Clark County, population 124,000, several community groups have formed as Noel's investigation churns on. Some residents have been posting photos of Noel at local restaurants and events, chronicling his movements.
"Went to Star Sushi today for lunch, walk in, look over and lo and behold it’s the good ol Sheriff himself Jamey Noel seated at a table having drinks," wrote a Facebook poster in March. "If any of us had stole (sic) as much as he has from us the taxpayers, we would be behind bars and the key would have been thrown away."
Shawn Bostock, who was born and raised in Clark County, says he worked for Noel from 2003 to 2004 as a firefighter for the volunteer agency. He says he often clashed with Noel over the way the agency was run, and was fired by Noel when he refused to cooperate in alleged corruption within the fire department.
Noel's attorney declined comment Wednesday to a request for comment on that allegation.
Bostock tells Inside Edition Digital the ongoing investigation has enraged and enlivened the community.
"The public outcry is deafening," Bostock says. "People are yelling and screaming ... We have had more people turning out for community meetings, with lines out the door," he says.
A Hidden Wiretap, a Falsified Pension Request and Public Employees Used as Noel's Private Maintenance Men: The Allegations That Prompted a State Criminal Investigation
Term limits prevented Noel from seeking a third stint as sheriff. He stepped down at the end of 2022. He remained head of the fire agency and the two GOP entities. Noel was fired in January by the board of the Utica Township Fire Fighters Association. He stepped down from his Republican party duties not long after.
Scottie Maples, who had worked under Noel, was elected in November 2022 and became the new sheriff in town.
It was Maples who blew the whistle on Noel's alleged corruption.
On Nov. 8, 2023, the day Noel was arrested, Maples wrote a long post on his official Facebook page. For the past five months, Maples told the public, his former boss had been under investigation by the Indiana State Police. The probe began when Maples went to state investigators in June 2023 with "unnerving and possible criminal activities by Jamey Noel."
In December 2022 Maples told investigators he had found a hidden wiretap in the office of an assistant chief that "led directly" to Noel's office, Maples wrote in his post.
He ordered a full review of the department, Maples wrote. "More disturbing information" came to light, and the new sheriff said he discovered that Noel "ordered several Clark County Sheriff’s Office employees to work and perform maintenance on his personal property, investment properties, and business properties.
"These employees were instructed to conduct this work while being paid to work at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office," Maples wrote in his social media post.
Maples also said he discovered paperwork that had been falsified and forged to award pension benefits to a deputy who did not deserve them, he wrote.
The documents made "it appear that this person was owed a pension, which they were not."
That former employee was also a family member of Jamey Noel, Maples wrote. Investigators would later say they discovered the former deputy was Noel's brother-in-law, Bradley Kramer, authorities said.
Kramer has not been charged in connection with the investigation.
Over the next nine months, state investigators conducted dozens of searches at Noel's home in Jeffersonville, offices belonging to the volunteer fire agency, a historic mansion on the Ohio River the Noels purchased in 2022 for $699,000, the home of Noel's father-in-law and other rental and business properties, according to search warrant affidavits filed in court.
Investigators said in court documents that besides the millions in personal charges on the fire agency credit cards, Noel also allegedly used the jail's commissary fund for his personal use. A state audit this year determined more than $900,000 had been illegally used for Noel's benefit. The state ordered him to repay $918,416.23.
The state's audit also found several automobile transactions that accountants deemed questionable, including a Dodge Ram owned by the department which Noel allegedly used as a trade-in for the personal purchase of a Ram cargo van. He received $10,000 for that trade, the audit determined.
Noel also used $1,398.59 in jail funds to purchase a 75-inch TV that was seized during a search of his home, according to search warrant affidavits. The television was in a box labeled "sheriff" with the price tag still attached, the documents said.
Jail employees, in interviews with state investigators, said Noel instructed them to do maintenance work at his home, including fixing a refrigerator, according to court documents. They were also told to do maintenance work at the homes of family members, investigators reported in court documents. The employees were on duty in all of those instances, according to investigators.
One employee said he did the work because he believed it would provide job security, court documents said.
In his Facebook post, Sheriff Maples wrote, "I was disturbed and very disappointed in Jamey Noel's conduct and the steps he took to conceal information from his staff and me during his tenure as sheriff, but I knew something had to be done."
Among the items seized during police searches of Noel's properties were tens of thousands of dollars in designer clothes, including Ferragamo shoes and Tom James suits paid for with the fire agency credit cards, according to court documents.
State police also seized six leather recliners from Macy's and several cars from Noel's private collection, some of which were paid for with fire department funds, investigators allege.
The state is also investigating whether he used fire agency funds to buy a $25,000 1958 Cessna airplane in 2022, authorities said.
The plane's registration listed Noel as the owner in 2022. A year later, it was registered to the fire department, investigators said in court documents. Authorities claimed Noel transferred the registration after learning he was under criminal investigation.
As investigators continue to work, the case grows ever bigger.
Last month investigators seized 26 shipping containers filled with $7 million of missing military surplus equipment, according to court documents. State police believe the surplus merchandise, including vehicles and a train engine, belonged to the sheriff's department and were hidden by Noel, according to court records.
Authorities said they are trying to inventory the equipment and determine how it was used.
Noel found himself in deeper hot water in March, when yet another search warrant was served at his home.
As a condition of his bond, Noel was ordered to surrender all of his personal weapons, except for a shotgun the judge allowed him to keep for security, court records state. But investigators in the most recent raid seized two Smith & Wesson 9 mm semi-automatic handguns, according to court records.
The trial judge has ordered Noel to appear in court on April 9 to explain why he should not be held in contempt of court.
His criminal trial is expected to begin later this year, authorities said.
Meanwhile, the investigation rumbles on.
"Now is the time," says activist Bostock, "for us to take our community back."
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