JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. – Former Clark County Sheriff and longtime Republican operative Jamey Noel could spend over a decade in prison after a judge accepted his guilty pleas to more than a dozen felony charges in court Monday. The plea deal brings a close to Noel’s portion of the case, dubbed the largest in agency history by state police, but other investigations are ongoing.
Noel was charged with 31 felonies for allegedly misusing money from the fire and EMS departments which he oversaw. He pleaded guilty to 27 of those in August.
Special Judge Larry Medlock officially accepted Noel’s plea following two hours of victim testimony in open court on Monday. Twenty-one statements were provided, including from members of law enforcement who formerly worked with or under Noel, and by Hoosiers in Clark County and other communities whose lives were “upended” by the former sheriff’s actions.
In many cases described, it was Noel’s mismanagement of millions in taxpayer dollars which victims said will scar their families and communities for “years to come.”
“As firefighters, first responders, and public servants, we take a higher oath. We are held to a higher standard of integrity,” said Roger Montgomery Jr., a first responder who worked for Noel from 2005 to 2011. Montgomery said firefighters and paramedics lacked proper equipment under Noel’s command, and that emergency personnel were tasked with driving Noel’s personal “limousines,” sometimes leaving just one firefighter on duty — and “putting citizens’ lives in jeopardy.”
He said, too, that non-emergency transfers were often prioritized over 911 calls because those runs netted “more money” from Medicare and Medicaid.
“Jamey Noel has betrayed the trust of the public, and any first responder — or anyone else that’s ever worn a badge and taken that oath,” Montgomery continued. “He did so knowingly and willingly for personal gain, and that personal gain was put ahead of patients and the lives of the people that worked for him.”
Read more of the Casey Smith story for the Indiana Capital Chronicle, here.