State asks Jamey Noel to pay back $4.4 million to New Chapel EMS for 'unlawful' purchases

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel is being asked to pay back millions of dollars to New Chapel EMS.

According to an audit of the Utica Township Volunteer Firefighters Association and New Chapel EMS, Noel paid for vacations, Rolex watches, child support payments, college tuition and more on the taxpayer's dime.

The Indiana State Board of Accounts conducted the audit for the period of Jan. 1, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2023, which WDRB News obtained Monday. It's just part of the investigation that has Noel currently sitting in jail.

From 2019 to 2023, auditors said New Chapel received a total of $3.9 million in public money from Clark and Floyd counties. Over that same 4-year time period, Noel was paid $582,564 in wages, as listed on his W-2. But auditors said he was paid even more money off the books. Over that 4-year period, auditors said New Chapel made $4.4 million in payments on an American Express credit card — $2 million of which Noel spent alone.

While some of the details included in the audit have come out over the last few months in court documents made public by investigators, the audit provides a comprehensive look at everything the state said Noel bought with money from New Chapel EMS.

In addition to his role as sheriff, Noel was also the CEO of New Chapel EMS and had direct access to the department's funds. He was also the chief of the Utica Fire Department.

Auditors said his role in multiple businesses "created a layering effect, in which money or assets are moved through different businesses or different layers of a business."

"This process creates difficulty when tracking funds or assets through the businesses," the state agency said. "Sometimes the formal legal entity's name is used, whereas sometimes an assumed business name is used."

The audit pointed to the fact that New Chapel Fire and EMS and New Chapel EMS "are separate and distinct assumed business names for two separate and distinct legal entities, their similar names have caused monies from one entity to be wrongfully deposited into the other."

The audit details the roughly $4.4 million Noel, his wife Misty, and daughter Kasey all racked up on the New Chapel EMS American Express credit card, roughly between 2019 and the end of 2023.

Breaking that down, some of the spending includes:

$15,000 on Rolex watches
$25,000 for a Cessna airplane
$16,618 in airplane maintenance, inspection and repairs
$16,939 for new auto lifts at his Jeffersonville pole barn
$160,270 on Amazon purchases
$83,112 at Macy's
$197,727 on a recurring timeshare and vacation club expenses in
$54,818 to Allegiant for flights to locations such as Punta Gorda, Florida and New Orleans
$163,176 in payments through Venmo and PayPal
$53,877 to a local cigar lounge
$27, 282 for baseball tickets, stadium services and merch
$20,518 in political donations
$183,980 on custom suits
$4,516 on firearms
$67,717 on insurance for his personal car collection
$30,785 on a new heat pump, appliances and chimney repairs on personal real estate
$20,393 for patio furniture, beds, and pool maintenance at Noel's personal property in Naples, Florida
$23,649 to replace the roof at his Jeffersonville home
$9,938 for lumber used on personal real estate properties
$565,268 for cash withdrawal and electronic payments, such as cashier's checks and wire transfers to purchase two vintage ambulances, and a 1959 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible

Noel is also being asked to reimburse $52,500 taken from his brother's probable estate, as well as $39,444 to New Chapel EMS for the loss on the trade-in of an EMS vehicle used to purchase a personal vehicle. He's also being asked to pay New Chapel EMS $137,733 for the lost value of more traded vehicles and auction services.

Noel, his wife, and his daughter are accused of racking up millions of dollars on trips, expensive clothes, jewelry, tanning, gas, alcohol, vaping products, salon services and more. The charges are among millions police accuse the three charged to fire department credit cards and paid with fire department funds.

The investigation also revealed Noel used $104,000 for child support payments from New Chapel EMS funds. He's also accused of using money to pay for college tuition and rent for two of his children at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Butler University, and Indiana University Southeast, equaling $181,000.

Noel was arrested in November 2023 on 15 felony charges related to fraud, misconduct, theft, ghost employment and public corruption after a nearly yearlong investigation that is ongoing. Another 10 charges were filed against him in early February, including theft and tax evasion.

He'd been out of jail ever since after posting a $75,000 cash bond. As one of the terms of his release, Noel was prohibited from having firearms, aside from a shotgun for "personal protection." But he was ordered to appear in court after two pistols were found in his home by Indiana State Police detectives during a search of the family home.

The former sheriff was sentenced to 60 days in prison on April 10 after being found in contempt of court for violating his bond conditions. He's serving that sentence in the Scott County Jail.

Noel's wife Misty, and daughter Kasey, are also facing multiple felony charges for theft and tax evasion. They've since pleaded not guilty and are out of jail on bond.

New Chapel EMS filed a lawsuit against Noel last month, claiming he hadn't given back the department's credit cards despite being removed as chief earlier this year. The lawsuit claimed Noel could have still been charging items on them. New Chapel's new chief, Matt Owen, previously told WDRB News that despite reaching out to the credit card companies directly, he was unable to close the accounts or make changes while they were still in Noel's name.

However, the audit said New Chapel was recently able to shut down the cards, which have been closed and can no longer be used.

Noel and his family are now being ordered by the state to pay all of the money back, which is an estimated $4.4 million.

This is in addition to the $918,000 he's been asked to repay after a state audit of the Clark County Sheriff's Office Jail Commissary fund. The audit covered 2015-17 and 2019-22.

The audit also names another person in the investigation — New Chapel EMS Director Kevin Wilkerson. The audit report questions $40,000 of purchases he made as well. The state said, however, Wilkerson is working on providing receipts showing the items were for New Chapel EMS. ISP said he will not be criminally charged.

More Coverage of the Jamey Noel Investigation: