SCOTTSBURG, Ind. (WDRB) — Former Scott County Sheriff Kenneth Hughbanks pleaded guilty to tax evasion Friday afternoon.
Hughbanks had originally entered a plea of not guilty in April, but petitioned the court in October to change his plea to guilty in the tax evasion case on money he received from a relative.
“The tax evasion deals with some unreported income, or alleged unreported income, dealing with some money that (Hughbanks) received from an individual along with some items that he sold and did not report income tax with,” special prosecutor Rick Hertel said at the time.
The judge ordered him to pay the Indiana Department of Revenue $13,273 for money he didn’t report in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Investigators said the tax evasion wouldn’t have been discovered if he hadn’t been investigated in connection with the Jamey Noel case.
“This has nothing to do with the Noel investigation, this is the money he received from a relative,” Hertel said Friday.
Hughbanks was sentenced to 908 days, all of it suspended — meaning he will be on probation. Hertel said all investigations into Hughbanks are now complete.
Hughbanks worked at the Clark County Jail until he was appointed in April 2018 to fill the remainder of Scott County Sheriff Dan McClain’s term, when McClain was appointed U.S. Marshal of the Southern District of Indiana. Investigators suggest Hughbanks was given the appointment through his connection to Jamey Noel, who was sheriff of Clark County at the time.
Noel later headed up the Utica Township Fire Department, and was found guilty of stealing millions for his personal use. He was sentenced in Oct. 2024 to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to 27 felonies, including theft, obstruction of justice, tax evasion, money laundering, corrupt business influence and official misconduct.
Following his tenure as sheriff, Noel rehired Hughbanks to serve as the Clark County Sheriff’s Operations Corrections Commander. He resigned from that role in 2019, but stayed on as a paid consultant.
Investigations conducted by Indiana State Police, the Indiana State Board of Accounts and the Indiana Department of Revenue found that Hughbanks’ consultant fees were paid out of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office Commissary Fund by Noel. After reviewing commissary transactions, investigators determined Hughbanks and his related businesses were paid $280,067 from March 2015 to Oct. 2022, according to an affidavit.
That affidavit also indicates that an administrative assistant stated that she tried to give Hughbanks a 1099 form to pay taxes, but he refused to accept it. The assistant told Noel about it, but he instructed her not to provide Hughbanks with the tax form.
Investigators later learned that Hughbanks and his wife did not report more than $214,000 of income on their state tax returns.
Hughbanks was ordered to return the missing money to the Clark County Sheriff’s Department Jail Commissary Fund in a civil suit.
Indiana State Police arrested Hughbanks at his home in April 2025. He was later released on a $5,000 bond.
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