Former southern Indiana sheriff Jamey Noel was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday after a judge accepted his plea agreement in Clark County Circuit Court in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Special Judge Larry Medlock said Noel would be suspended for three years of his sentence.

“You have tarnished the badge and failed all law enforcement,” Medlock said shortly before handing down the sentence.

Noel, who was Clark County sheriff from 2015 to 2022 and also once ran New Chapel EMS in Clark County, was accused of using a business card for personal purchases and having sheriff's office employees work in a barn where he was, among other things a collection of classic cars stored things. He pleaded guilty in August to multiple charges of corrupt business influence, theft, tax evasion and official misconduct. At that hearing, four charges of ghost employment were dismissed.

Monday's hearing included two hours of testimony from former New Chapel employees and officials, police officers and residents who claimed their family members died due to inadequate emergency services.

Noel cried at times as a number of former colleagues and Clark County citizens testified against him during the hearing. When he testified before the judge, Noel said the allegations against him were “my fault alone” and that his family had been “victims of my deception.”

“I apologize to all the citizens of Clark County,” he said.

After the court heard from at least three witnesses who blamed delays in emergency services as the main reason they lost a loved one to a medical emergency, current New Chapel CEO Matt Owen said Noel had “stolen” the company's credibility “, referring to Noel's claim that when using the company credit card, New Chapel was struggling with staffing issues while Noel was buying classic cars.

“The shadow of your actions has led to (New Chapel) being perceived as a criminal,” Owen said.

Mark Grube, chief deputy of the Clark County Sheriff's Department, said in court that he launched an Indiana State Police investigation into Noel's activities after finding documents he believed were forged. Only after the investigation began did he realize that he, too, had been affected by the actions outlined in the investigation, said Grube.

“No sentence will ever cure them,” Grube said, referring to his colleagues in the sheriff’s office.

This story may be updated.

Reach reporter Leo Bertucci at [email protected] or @leober2chee on X, formerly known as Twitter

This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier Journal: Jamey Noel case: Former sheriff gets 15 years in prison