Jamey Noel’s ‘greed’ blamed for New Chapel EMS’ subpar services in southern Indiana

by Casey Smith, Indiana Capital Chronicle
October 28, 2024

When a life is on the line in the back of an ambulance, first responders are supposed to have the best tools available to give every patient a fighting chance, said former paramedic Crystal Blevins. But for many who worked at New Chapel EMS — the southern Indiana emergency service provider previously ran by now-convicted former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel — “the equipment and the medicine, a lot of the time, wasn’t there.”

“There was this lie being presented to the public about what New Chapel was giving — they weren’t fulfilling that promise. Jamey ran the service out of greed … telling us there weren’t funds for what we needed, and then we came to find out the money was there all along,” Blevins told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. 

She recalled, for example, a run for an elderly woman suffering from respiratory distress. Blevins said her ambulance wasn’t equipped with properly-sized continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, masks. During the 30-minute ride to the hospital, Blevins was forced to “improvise” — on her own — “hoping nothing else would go wrong.”

“I was told there wasn’t room in the budget. It made me absolutely livid. I was in the back with that lady who was begging to breathe. This was a life or death piece of equipment, and I felt like I was failing this patient,” Blevins continued. “When you’re back there and you’re with patients, you’re trying to tell them you’re doing everything you can. I knew that I was doing everything I could, but the service wasn’t doing everything they could.”

Since Noel’s criminal conduct, the EMS company has downsized staff and no longer provides some services. A tax increase is also coming for residents.

Blevins worked at New Chapel for two years before she and most other first responders at the nonprofit were let go in August — one of many consequences that have come in the wake of Noel’s “undeniable greed.”

For at least two decades, the former New Chapel CEO controlled the organization’s finances and was the final decision-maker. 

Court documents indicate that Noel stole more than half of the taxpayer dollars provided to New Chapel by Clark and Floyd counties. In his last four years as leader, he pocketed at least half a million dollars in wages and spent $2 million more on vacations, clothing, Rolex watches, child support payments, his daughter’s college tuition and more, according to state auditors.

Noel pleaded guilty last month to more than a dozen felony charges — most of which stemmed from his illegal activity at New Chapel — earning him upwards of a decade in prison. The plea deal also stipulated over $3 million in restitution. The majority, $2.87 million, is expected to be returned to New Chapel.

Although New Chapel is regaining its footing under new leadership, the emergency service provider is still beset by Noel’s mismanagement of funds that led to poor staffing, equipment shortages and inadequate care for thousands of Hoosiers across multiple southern Indiana counties.

But Noel’s bad actions reverberate even farther.

Blevins recounted a stressful environment in which first responders were often unable to render timely or complete aid for patients — eventually putting New Chapel employees at odds with the people they’re supposed to serve. 

And worse, she said, was the “severe” lack of mentorship and training for new EMTs, lending some to leave a profession that desperately needs more skilled workers. 

“These guys didn’t get a chance to grow into what they’re doing, or love what they’re doing. And on top of everything else, (young EMTs) have no idea how to deal with the PR of all of this,” Blevins said. “When I’m walking into a house and it’s Jamey Noel’s face on the screen, and the patient is looking at me like I stole their tax dollars, I’m able to handle it because I’ve been doing this long enough. But a 20-year-old — you think they’re going to be able to defend themselves? This has pushed so many out.”

How New Chapel came to be

Noel was the Clark County sheriff from 2015 until the end of 2022. During his tenure, he also served as the Republican Party chair for Clark County and Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, making him a sort of gatekeeper for southern Indiana political hopefuls over the last decade.

He was additionally in charge of — or served in a leadership position — at the Utica Township Volunteer Firefighters Association, which does business as New Chapel EMS, from 1993 to January 2024, according to court documents and auditors’ records. 

Since 2002, he was chief of the Utica Fire Department, too. The separate nonprofit frequently operated under the name “New Chapel Fire and EMS.” 

New Chapel EMS had off-and-on service in Clark County beginning in 2007, but had full-county coverage in both Clark and Floyd counties starting in 2020. New Chapel Fire and EMS, on the other hand, received funding from New Albany Township and Utica townships to provide fire protection services. Many of the contracts at both New Chapel operations were severed by local officials this year.

An audit released earlier this year by the Indiana State Board of Accounts said Noel’s 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 out that New Chapel Fire and EMS and New Chapel EMS “are separate and distinct assumed business names for two separate and distinct legal entities,” but “their similar names have caused monies from one entity to be wrongfully deposited into the other.”

Blevins said New Chapel EMS staff like herself “were completely kept out” of the organization’s finances.

What she did observe, however, were too few ambulances, overworked EMTs and paramedics, and inadequate equipment compared to other emergency service providers she had worked for previously. Those problems were exacerbated by Noel’s arrest and downfall, she said.

This summer, following Noel’s departure from New Chapel, local media reported hours-long stretches during which the ambulance service had no paramedics on staff.  

Although EMTs can still provide basic life support, Blevins and other emergency responders emphasized that a paramedic is needed for acute calls more than five minutes away from a hospital.

Multiple former New Chapel employees said the standard operating procedure of having one paramedic working was a “major” safety issue. 

It contributed, for example, to average response times of more than 17 minutes in two of Clark County’s townships as of June. Some runs took 30 minutes or more for emergency responders to arrive, according to records reviewed by the Capital Chronicle.

Belvins said the delays “had nothing to do” with their dedication to EMS service, but rather having so few staff on hand to service multiple communities.

‘Poor leadership’ beset EMS care

Before Noel’s sentencing, nearly two dozen victims testified in open court, describing in often emotional detail how Noel’s mismanagement of the community’s ambulance service will scar their families and communities for “years to come.”

That included former New Chapel employee Suzanne Davis, who described an unsafe and unsupportive work environment, where her fire equipment didn’t fit and where she was told to report for duty while sick. Worse, she said, she was made to return to work after finding a friend dead on a run.

“He had no regard for our personal safety,” she said, referring to Noel. “No regard for our mental health. None.”

Roger Montgomery Jr., a first responder who worked for Noel from 2005 to 2011, testified that 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, too, 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,” 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.”

New Chapel EMS CEO Matt Owen, who took over the department in February, said Noel “stole” the company’s credibility and lamented how the emergency service struggled with staffing issues while Noel purchased vintage cars.

“The shadow of your actions made (New Chapel) out to be perceived criminals,” Owen said. Echoing Blevins, he highlighted how Noel tarnished the reputations and careers of an entire fleet of first responders.

“You used many who believed in you to convince this community to put our trust in you,” Owen continued. “We held you as the pinnacle of a public servant. We rallied behind you in the pursuit of ridding out public corruption, all while you knowingly stood behind the curtain extracting so much for personal gain.”

Noel’s wrongdoings come to light

The state’s audit showed New Chapel EMS received $3.9 million in public funds from Clark and Floyd counties between 2019 and 2023. 

Over that same four-year time period, Noel was paid $582,564 in wages, according to tax documents referenced in the report. But auditors said he was paid even more money off the books. 

The state found that New Chapel made $4.4 million in payments on an American Express credit card — $2 million of which Noel spent on himself.

Anitra Coatley Williams said Noel’s embezzlement scheme severely strained the financial resources of New Chapel EMS, compromising services and likely contributing to her father’s death.

In August, New Chapel EMS never arrived as her father suffered a heart attack. It took roughly an hour for a neighboring service to respond, and another 30 minutes to get to the hospital. 

“We truly believe that my dad would’ve had a fighting chance for survival if New Chapel was dispatched to us,” Williams said. “We hope that nothing like this ever happens to another family because of Jamey Noel’s selfishness and greed.”

Suzanna Worrall separately shared how her brother-in-law, David “Red” Worrall, died after collapsing at a polling site last Election Day in Clark County. 

She said bystanders and firefighters performed CPR as they waited 16 minutes for an ambulance. It took 27 minutes from the time 911 was called for New Chapel’s ambulance to get Red to the hospital, which Worrall said was only two miles away.

“Could Red still be alive today if the ambulance had arrived faster? Possibly,” she said. “If Jamey Noel and his family had not spent approximately $5 million of New Chapel’s money on lavish vacations, expensive suits, high-dollar cigars, cars and other items, and reinvested the taxpayer dollars back into that ambulance, my life would be completely different today.”

What comes next for New Chapel

Noel pleaded guilty to 27 felonies in August, including theft, tax evasion and money laundering. A judge begrudgingly accepted the plea on Oct. 14.

The charges were part of a massive Indiana State Police investigation that has included more than 70 search warrants and led to five arrests.

He received a 15-year prison sentence with three of those years suspended to probation. With approval from the judge, Noel will get credit for time served, beginning June 8. Per state law, he could shave time off his sentence with good behavior in prison, leaving him to serve roughly nine-and-a-half years behind bars.

The plea agreement also requires Noel to pay back more than $3.1 million in public funds: $2,870,924 to New Chapel; $61,190 to the Clark County Sheriff’s Department; $173,155 to the Indiana Department of Revenue; and $35,245 to the Indiana State Police.

In the resulting turmoil, New Chapel downsized from roughly 60 employees in July to fewer than a dozen people as of last month.

Starting Sept. 1, New Chapel EMS no longer provides 911 emergency ambulance services in Clark County. Instead, Coy Travis, lawyer and spokesperson for New Chapel, said the organization will focus on restructuring and rebranding in the coming months and leaving its current headquarters at Utica Township Fire Department. 

He said the ambulance service is anticipated to consolidate it into a single entity with a different name. The hope is to stay in business doing non-emergency transports.

“We believe this change in direction is the best decision to make currently for our company, our employees, and the community,” New Chapel officials said in a recent news release.

Currently, a temporary contract with Muncie-based Heartland Ambulance Service — which started Aug. 1 — is providing Clark County’s primary ambulance service.

Utica officials terminated their contract with New Chapel in August.

Floyd County officials, meanwhile, approved last week the county’s largest-ever tax increase to fund a new ambulance provider. The 0.5% income tax increase takes effect Jan. 1.

It’s unclear how long it could take for Noel’s restitution payments to begin. Multiple lawsuits against Noel, his family and New Chapel are ongoing and will likely direct the flow of assets.

“We care about our community and do this because we want to help people,” Blevins said. “I want to see my community get past this … no one should have to suffer from this anymore.”

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