By Andrew Harp
The Evening News and the Tribune
JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — The ambulance company formerly owned and managed by former Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel has filed for bankruptcy.
According to a news release from the company’s attorney, S. Coy Travis, the current board of directors of Utica Township Volunteer Fire Fighters Association, which formerly did business as New Chapel EMS, decided to file for protection under the Bankruptcy Code of Chapter 11, which requests a restructuring of the business so it can continue to exist.
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“We will utilize that protection to reorganize so that the company may operate in an efficient, effective manner that allows us to best serve our mission and provide critical services,” the news release states.
Noel was charged with stealing public funds using the New Chapel entities to layer money to use for his own personal purchases.
Over the course of the investigation and eventual prosecution of Noel’s several felony charges, which he is currently serving a prison sentence for, New Chapel EMS lost contracts with both the Utica Township Fire Protection District Board of Trustees for fire protection, the Clark County Commissioners, the Floyd County Commissioners for outside of New Albany and New Albany Township for fire protection.
At one point, the organization renamed itself and was instead focusing on inter-facility ambulance runs instead of emergency transports.
Travis says in the release that for two years, the board has “worked diligently through the damage done to the organization and community by Jamey Noel’s criminal conduct.” However, Travis said the damage was too great.
“The public’s trust was broken, and as a result, more than 70 years of dedicated public service has been tarnished,” he said.
Travis said the organization came up with a plan to downsize the scale of their operations and liquidate assets.
He said that “various court orders” have stopped them from doing this, draining their resources.
“We cautioned the courts that these orders would force us to continue to pay loans, insurance, storage, and maintenance for dozens of unnecessary vehicles, which was not feasible or necessary,” it states.
Travis said on Wednesday that the company wants to sell these assets and equipment to be able to pay off the debt they owe to the bank on these various vehicles, and put whatever money is left into an escrow account.
He said they are currently beholden to two identical court orders, one issued in the case with the attorney general’s office and the other in the case with the fire protection district.
He also said that they filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Indiana, so their case will be heard by a federal bankruptcy judge.
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