Jamey Noel, the former sheriff and GOP political leader of Clark County, Indiana, is accused by his niece and nephews of stealing from their inheritance. Noel has already pleaded not guilty to 25 felony counts of corruption and stealing public money.
Jamey Noel, a former sheriff and local GOP leader, is already the focus of a staggering Indiana criminal corruption case. Now he faces allegations from his family that he stole from them as well.
In a separate civil case, Noel's niece and nephews claim he defrauded them of tens of thousands that should have been part of their inheritance, according to court documents seeking to reopen the estate of William Leon Noel, who died from cancer in 2018 at the age of 43.
Jamey Noel is already charged with 25 felonies alleging he stole as much as $5 million in public funds to finance a lifestyle that included a private plane, several homes and more than 130 luxury cars, while using his county employees as his private gophers and handymen. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Niece Taylor Noel and nephews Jack Noel and Dorian Noel filed a petition in March to reopen their father's estate, according to court documents reviewed by Inside Edition Digital. Their attorney, Amy Wheatley, tells Inside Edition Digital that her clients trusted their uncle and thought there was nothing wrong with their dad's estate until details began appearing in local media accounts about the staggering criminal counts against Jamey Noel.
Wheatley says she is amazed by "the sheer unmitigated gall of this person," referring to the criminal charges against Noel, and the alleged mismanagement of her clients' inheritance.
The attorney tells Inside Edition Digital that the allegations in the heirs' petition came directly from search warrant documents filed by state investigators in the ongoing criminal probe.
In February affidavits, the lead investigator alleged that reviews of financial documents seized from Noel's home showed that Noel, in his capacity as his late brother's estate executor, appeared to have withdrawn funds for himself, as well as reimbursed himself for repair work he didn't perform on one of his brother's homes.
Noel has not been criminally charged with those allegations. But the special prosecutor in the case recently told Inside Edition Digital that the investigation remains ongoing and additional charges are likely.
Noel has been under investigation by Indiana State Police for nearly a year. In that time, 25 felony counts have been filed against him, he paid an all-cash bail of $75,000 and managed to stay out of jail until a special judge in the criminal case threw him behind bars earlier this month after yelling at him in court and slamming his gavel so hard it broke.
Now, the former top law enforcement official in Clark County is currently in jail serving a 60-day contempt sentence handed down April 9 after the trial's special judge expressed outrage that weapons had been found in Noel's home after he was ordered to turn over all his guns months ago as a condition of his bail.
Jamey Noel's attorney unsuccessfully argued during Noel's contempt hearing that his client had mistakenly overlooked two handguns still in his basement, after surrendering more than 80 weapons to authorities.
The massive investigation continues to grow. Noel's wife, Misty, and their eldest daughter, Kasey, have also been charged with multiple felony counts of theft and tax evasion.
All three have pleaded not guilty. Misty and Kasey are free on bail.
None of the Noels have publicly commented on the charges against them.
Jamey Noel wore several hats as Clark County sheriff from 2015 to 2022. He 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.
Noel applied for credit cards in the nonprofit fire agency's name, and then used those cards to purchase millions in personal goods, state police said in court documents filed since the criminal investigation began last June. Noel also allegedly used bank accounts belonging to the agency for illegal gain, according to court documents.
As executor of his brother's estate, Noel allegedly transferred more than $50,000 from the fire agency account he controlled to the estate's bank account in 2020, one month after he had withdrawn the same amount from his brother's estate, according to the February affidavits filed by state investigators.
"He took out $52,500 just for himself," the heirs' attorney says. "We don't know why. So when he wrote checks to the heirs, they bounced."
The February affidavit filed by state investigators also noted two estate checks sent to the heirs had been returned for non-sufficient funds.
The heirs' March petition to reopen the estate alleges Noel sold two houses belonging to his brother for far less than they were worth. One of those homes was purchased by his daughter, Kasey Noel, "for significantly below market value," Wheatley said.
In that purchase, Noel also gifted his daughter $36,000 in escrow, money that was not repaid to the heirs, the attorney said. A second home, which Noel's brother had planned to "flip," was also sold during that sale, and Noel paid himself $16,000 for basement work on the home that he did not do, according to the heirs' petition.
That allegation was also noted in the February affidavits by state investigators, who said Noel wrote himself a check for $16,000 from the estate, claiming it was for basement work he'd performed. But the affidavits also said Noel had paid the same amount for basement repairs to a contractor he hired to performed the same work.
Photocopies of the alleged payment checks were included in the affidavits.
A new will for William Leon Noel was filed weeks before his death, according to probate court records. Jamey Noel was named executor, or personal representative, of the estate in January 2019, those records say.
The estate was unsupervised, meaning the executor did not have to obtain court approval to spend or administer its funds, according to state law.
As executor, Noel's job entailed "trying to gather all the assets of the estate, paying off all the debts, and distributing the proceeds to the heirs," says Wheatley. He was supposed to keep the heirs informed of his expenditures, but did not, she adds.
Until the February search warrants became public, the heirs assumed their uncle was serving their best interests, Wheatley said. "I mean, good God, Jamey was the sheriff."
In their petition to reopen their father's estate estate, the heirs allege Noel took more than $68,000 for himself in payments that should have benefited them. The petition seeks triple that amount, alleging Noel committed fraud in withdrawing those funds.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out for comment to Noel's criminal attorney, but has not heard back.
A court hearing in the estate case is scheduled for Friday. No attorney of record is listed for Noel in that civil case in online court records.
