Former Clark County, Ind., Sheriff and longtime Republican operative Jamey Noel could spend upwards of a decade in prison after a judge accepted his guilty pleas to more than a dozen felony charges 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 that he oversaw. He pleaded guilty to 27 of those. Special Judge Larry Medlock accepted Noel’s plea after two hours of victim testimony. Twenty-one statements were provided, including from members of law enforcement who formerly worked with Noel, and by people whose lives have been “upended” by the former sheriff’s actions, reports the Indiana Capital Chronicle. 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 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 said. “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.” Noel pled guilty to charges of theft, money laundering, corrupt business influence, official misconduct, obstruction of justice and tax evasion. “You’ve tarnished the badge and failed everyone in law enforcement,” Medlock told Noel. The judge said he would have preferred a harsher sentence, but worried that doing so could make the case ripe for an appeal. Noel begins a 15-year prison sentence with three of those years suspended to probation.
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