Kenneth D. Hughbanks, former Scott County Sheriff, Republican County Chairman and known associate of convicted Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel, was arrested by the State Police around 9 a.m. last Thursday morning and charged with felony tax evasion. He spent less than 45 minutes in the jail he ran for eight months in 2018 after posting a $5,000 cash bond.
Hughbanks, 44, of the 100 block of N. Chipaway Lane in Scottsburg, was a close associate of former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to 27 felony counts and admitting to stealing millions of dollars from the department and a nonprofit EMS service in Clark County.
Ric Hertel of Ripley County was appointed special prosecutor in the case. Hertel was the special prosecutor for all cases that resulted in the Noel conviction.
According to a probable cause affidavit, ISP Lt. Jeffrey Hearon determined Hughbanks and his wife, Lyndi Hughbanks, took $145,693 from Kenneth’s godmother, who diagnosed with dementia. In May 2019, Lyndi notarized a document granting power of attorney over the woman’s bank accounts to her husband, the court document read.
Hearon said the Hughbanks used funds from the bank accounts for their own purposes between 2019 and 2021 and did not report this income on their taxes.
Additionally, Hearon said Hughbanks sold numerous tools, bikes and other items out of a building on Main Street in Scottsburg during the same period and did not collect or remit the sales tax. The total amount was estimated at $30,000-$40,000.
The third felony charge was for failing to provide business records to Indiana Department of Revenue agents.
In 2024, court documents revealed Noel paid Hughbanks over $262,000 for consulting work between March 2015 and October 2022 using Clark County Sheriff’s Office jail commissary funds. Documents showed investigators believe Hughbanks and his wife failed to report at least $214,700 of income on their taxes over a five-year span. Commissary records from 2018 are missing, the probable cause states.
Lyndi Hughbanks has not been charged with a crime in relation to the state police investigation.
While he was the Scott County Republican Party Chairman. Hughbanks was appointed Scott County sheriff in April 2018 after his predecessor took a job outside the department. The probable cause affidavit read that Hughbanks is not a graduate of the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, and a top official in the Clark County Sheriff’s Office suggested he probably got the job because of his association with Noel.