Former Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter says the investigation into Dubois County Sheriff Tom Kleinhelter’s misuse of jail commissary funds stalled after Governor Mike Braun took office.
“Somebody in those orbits talked about this,” Carter told WIBC’s Kendall and Casey. “That’s the only logical conclusion, and it’s irrefutable — somebody didn’t say stop it.”
Governor Mike Braun is from Dubois County.
He was born in Jasper, Indiana, and graduated from Jasper High School.
Carter also spoke about longtime detective Jeffrey Herron, whose influence at the agency has been reduced and who was pushed out and made the target of an internal investigation — even though Carter says Herron was simply doing solid police work. Herron put together an 88-page probable cause affidavit for the case.
“A logical conclusion with anybody that reads this, or sees this, or hears it, would be there was some level of interference,” Carter said.
Indiana’s State Board of Accounts conducted a special audit and found Sheriff Kleinhelter misused commissary funds. The sheriff used the money to pay for his wife’s trips to four conferences between 2021 and 2023, including a costly $7,375.92 trip to Dubai. He also spent nearly $8,000 on gifts for employees, such as Visa prepaid cards and grills.
Carter said what really caught investigators’ attention was the involvement of Kleinhelter’s wife.
“And then how the money was moving — out of commissary to personal accounts, personal accounts back to commissary, personal credit cards. That was all done through forensic evaluation,” he explained.
By law, commissary funds—money collected from sales to jail inmates—can only be used for specific purposes like jail equipment, training, or crime prevention programs. Any other spending requires approval from the County Council. While the audit called the sheriff’s spending a misuse of public funds, it found no criminal activity.
Carter said Anthony Scott, who was appointed the 21st superintendent of the Indiana State Police, has not discussed the case with him and won’t acknowledge it.
At one point, Carter said he pulled an investigator off the case when progress stalled and put Herron on it. That’s when things started moving forward. However, Carter added, the state police later targeted Herron with an internal investigation.
“They started an internal investigation that just ended here in the past few weeks,” Carter said. “He got moved to a job that doesn’t matter.”
Sheriff Kleinhelter repaid the full $16,774.71 in June 2024, saying it was a mistake and not intentional. He claimed he asked for permission by phone but did not follow proper steps, like appointing his wife as a special deputy.
The county formed a committee to oversee future spending, but the County Council rejected the sheriff’s request to spend commissary money on holiday events and retirement dinners without prior approval.
The case was sent to the county prosecutor and the attorney general, but no charges or further actions have been reported.
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