DUBOIS CO. — A state law enforcement board has taken the next formal step in the decertification case against Dubois County Sheriff Tom Kleinhelter, tentatively scheduling lengthy evidentiary hearings for April.
Following a brief procedural meeting on Monday at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Plainfield, the case against Sheriff Kleinhelter is now on a timeline for review by the Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board’s (ILETB) decertification subcommittee. The full ILETB will ultimately decide whether to strip Kleinhelter of his police certification.
Sheriff Kleinhelter appeared at the meeting with his lawyer, Jim Voyles, while general counsel Raquel Ramirez represented the training board. The four-minute meeting, led by subcommittee chairman David Wantz, established the following deadlines:
- December 30: Initial discovery to be exchanged.
- End of January: Additional discovery due.
- April 25–28 (Tentative): Two-day evidentiary hearing scheduled.
Following the procedural meeting, neither Kleinhelter nor his attorney responded to media questions.
The decertification request was initiated by the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy and its executive director, Tim Horty, following a month-long State Police investigation into allegations of misconduct by the Sheriff.
Although a special prosecutor opted not to file criminal charges against Kleinhelter, the ILETB voted in August to proceed with administrative charges. The charges include: fraud, perjury, false informing, and criminal misconduct.
Specific allegations cited in the charging documents include:
- Fraud (Misspending): Kleinhelter is accused of purchasing employee gifts and instructing the jail matron to falsely label the expenses as “training” in commissary records.
- Fraud (Reimbursement): He is also alleged to have reimbursed the jail commissary over $16,000 following a state audit, then attempted to recoup the money by filing a county reimbursement request that falsely included a State Board of Accounts employee’s name to suggest approval.
- Perjury: The board alleges Kleinhelter signed a nepotism compliance form months after approving his wife as a special deputy, potentially violating county policy.
- False Informing: Kleinhelter is accused of telling state police investigators he received an airline “e-credit” for a canceled work trip, despite the airline confirming he was issued a direct cash refund.
The training board noted that the alleged actions occurred while Kleinhelter was acting in his official capacity as sheriff, which could qualify as official misconduct.
If the ILETB votes to decertify Sheriff Kleinhelter, he would be barred from serving as a certified law enforcement officer. However, under the state constitution, this action would not prevent him from continuing to hold the elected office of sheriff.
