(Jeffersonville, IN) – Former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel was sentenced Monday in a Jeffersonville courtroom to 12 years in prison and three years’ probation. Ripley County’s Ric Hertel served as special prosecutor in the case.
Noel was charged with theft, tax evasion, and money laundering – along with a number of other counts – during his time as Sheriff and as the head of an emergency medical service.
He pled guilty in late August to 27 out of 31 felony charges under a plea deal reached with Hertel and his team of prosecutors.
In addition to prison time, Noel will have to pay millions of dollars in restitution.
The special judge in the case accepted the plea deal “reluctantly.”
Hertel addressed the media after the sentencing.
“I’d like to say, in my mind, it ends today. It ends for him, it ends for his case, and the hope as I look around Clark County and the people behind me, is that you all can turn the page, that this chapter is closed and you can move forward and the healing can kind of start to begin,” Hertel said. “I know it won’t be overnight, maybe in the next year but in time. But at least in my eyes, the grip that Jamey Noel had on this community is over. And nobody has to go through him to get elected for anything, to get medical care for anything, or to report a crime.
“Today’s about accountability,” Hertel added. “Prison, restitution…all of those things.”
Twenty-one people made victim impact statements, with the court hearing testimony from several firefighters and EMS personnel.
Civil cases against Noel and several of his family members to try and recover the money he swiped are still going on.
