Kenneth D. Hughbanks, former Scott County Sheriff, County and 9th District Republican Chairman and known associate of convicted Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel, pleaded guilty of felony tax evasion last Friday in Scott Circuit Court.
He will be spending no time in jail. In the plea agreement, Judge Jason Mount sentenced him to 910 days in jail then suspended 908 days. He was given credit for time served and will spend 908 days on probation.
When arrested this past April, Hughbanks spent less than 45 minutes in the jail he ran for eight months in 2018 after posting a $5,000 cash bond.
He is also required to pay restitution to the Indiana Department of Revenue $13,273.02, forfeit all evidence seized in connection with the investigation, and report to the Scott County Probation Office monthly.
Additional terms of his probation require him to maintain employment, not possess any firearms, not maintain any security cameras or emergency frequency scanners, not use drugs or alcohol as well as undergo drug and alcohol testing, at his expense, as directed by the probation department
Hughbanks, 45, of the 150 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 the special prosecutor in the Hughbanks case. Hertel was also the special prosecutor for all cases that resulted in the Noel conviction.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Indiana State Police 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.
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 was not been charged with a crime in relation to the state police investigation.
While he was the Scott County Republican Party Chairman, Hughbanks appointed himself 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.