Former Clark County sheriff Jamey Noel must serve 60 days in jail, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Jamey Noel, the southern Indiana sheriff accused of stealing millions in public funds to buy luxury cars and an airplane, was sentenced to serve 60 days in jail for contempt of court by an angry judge who had already warned him about violating his bail restrictions.
Noel, 52, is charged with 25 felony counts including theft, official misconduct, tax evasion and corrupt business influence, according to court records. He has been under criminal investigation by Indiana State Police since June 2023, authorities said.
As Inside Edition Digital reported last week, the scope of that probe and the charges against him are staggering in scope.
He was ordered to appear Tuesday before Special Judge Larry Medlock to explain why he shouldn't be held in contempt after two semi-automatic handguns were found during a recent search of his home. In an earlier hearing, Medlock had ordered him to surrender all weapons, save for a single shotgun he was allowed to keep for protection.
Medlock slammed his gavel Tuesday and jabbed his finger toward Noel while ruling that he be sent immediately to jail.
"I told Mr. Noel, 'Don't do anything stupid. Do not try to deceive me or defy me. You will not like the consequences,'" Medlock said in a loud voice. "Today is that day. You are not the law. You don't interpret the law. You don't enforce the law. You're not above the law. I find that you are in contempt of this court. Take him into custody."
And with that, Noel was escorted out of the courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back.
"60 days in," the judge also said, an apparent reference to A&E's "60 Days In" reality series, which Noel appeared in from 2016 to 2017. The program 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.
As Noel left the courtroom, there was a smattering of applause.
Defense attorney James Voyles had unsuccessfully argued Noel made a mistake when directing two other people to round the guns at his home and didn't realize there were two guns in his basement.
As Clark County sheriff from 2015 to 2022, Noel 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, according to authorities.
He was arrested in November. The investigation is far from over, the special prosecutor in the case previously told Inside Edition Digital.
As of now, Noel is accused of stealing as much as $5 million in acts of official misconduct that include buying and selling luxury cars with public funds and using his deputies as personal gophers and handymen on his private properties while they were on the clock for the sheriff's department, according to court documents.
State investigators allege in search warrant affidavits that Noel took out credit cards in the fire agency's name, and used those cards to illegally purchase designer clothing, liquor, cigars, home appliances, vacations, travel, college tuitions for his two youngest daughters, as well as child support payments to a former county official with whom he fathered a child, according to authorities.
In February, his wife, Misty, 50, and his eldest 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.
Misty and Kasey Noel have pleaded not guilty and remain free on bail. The former sheriff has also pleaded not guilty.
None of the Noels has spoken publicly about the case.
Search warrant affidavits filed last week by prosecutors said Jamey Noel spent more than $50,000 at an Indiana cigar store, purchases he paid for with a fire department credit card, according to the documents.
Investigators are seeking the financial records of Riverside Cigar Shop and Lounge in Jeffersonville, the Indiana town where Noel resides. According to the search warrant affidavit, Noel spent $56,662.37 at the cigar shop over a five-year period beginning in 2018.
A state audit earlier determined that Noel must repay more than $900,000 he improperly took from the jail's commissary fund.
Related Stories
