The Clinton County Sheriff’s Office Merit Board met Wednesday evening in the Clinton County Sheriff Office building. The March 18th meeting focused on public frustration with the handling of an internal investigation at the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office and its impact on employees, especially women, while the Sheriff defended the process as required by policy and state law. Deputies also reported recent training upgrades and specialized certifications intended to improve crash reconstruction and tactical readiness.
Investigation, due process, and public anger
During public comment, the Merit Board President voiced strong frustration over delays in releasing a requested 2022 video involving Michael Green. The Merit Board President said he was speaking “as a Clinton County resident” as well as board president. “I’m pissed,” he said from the dais. “I’m here one hour a month and I hear all the grumblings…This is ridiculous…This is wrong.”
The sheriff’s office said the video request has been sent to the office’s legal deputy for review and redaction before any possible release. Sheriff Rich Kelly told the board, concerning the video and related records, “have to look and see if it’s even feasible to release,” explaining that attorneys must first review the material and that the process “has been delayed because that does have to go through attorneys” and be “shot back and forth between attorneys.”
Detective leadership and the sheriff emphasized that a related internal investigation involving Capt. Matt Myers has been turned over to the Indiana State Police for potential criminal review. “Whenever there is an internal (investigation), if criminal (activity) is potentially located, we have to turn that over to an outside agency,” a detective told the board, noting that he, the chief deputy and another commander cannot investigate criminal allegations against a fellow member of the agency. Sheriff Kelly added, “We’re following policy, training, and state law…We are not going to hinder this or interrupt it for the fact that we want to know.”
Public comments on ‘one‑sided’ narrative and impact on women
Two speakers, identifying themselves as civilian women, urged the board and the public to consider how the ongoing investigation and community speculation are affecting employees inside the sheriff’s office.
The first speaker said she was speaking “as a civilian female” who has repeatedly been asked if she is the unnamed woman alleged to be having an affair with a sheriff’s office employee. “It is unfair that we as women walk into this department and are looked at and are asked this question in the public,” she said, noting that women work in merit deputy, detective, jail, records, clerical and dispatch roles. She asked the community to “sit back, take a breath, let the investigators do their job,” and urged residents to “please quit asking the women of this department if it’s them because it’s unfair.”
Mrs. Myers, who identified herself as the wife of Capt. Matt Myers, told the board she is “deeply disappointed and frustrated” with how the current investigation has been “conducted and presented.” She said the investigation “appears to be presented as a one-sided narrative,” and argued that “it’s only fair that the other half of the story be brought forward so the merit board and the commissioners and the public have…complete and balanced information rather than [a] partial account.”
Myers also criticized what she called “unaddressed behavior” and “lack of code and ethical values demonstrated by Ashley Kelly,” the sheriff’s wife and jail matron, and said that has “shifted the agency’s morale, damaged its reputation, and negatively impacted the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office work environment.” She said her family “did not ask for this level of scrutiny” and that the situation has created “unnecessary stress and hardship.”
Status of Captain Myers and civilian employee
Board members pressed for clarity on the status of Capt. Matt Myers and the unnamed civilian employee. Sheriff Kelly said job duties for Myers “have changed,” that he “is still here at the sheriff’s office” but working “in a different part of the facility” while the investigation proceeds. When asked whether the civilian employee had also been moved, Kelly said “nobody’s moving at that point until we get further to where we need to be,” while acknowledging that a change in assignment for that employee is “an absolute possibility.”
A detective told the board that when a potential criminal element is present, “the internal has to halt until that is resolved” and that both aspects of the case are “tied together,” which limits how much officials can say publicly. “When I start getting into specifics…you jeopardize the case, you jeopardize the ability to have an unbiased investigation,” he said, adding that investigators are “trying to make sure the right thing is done the right way.”
Training, certifications, and SWAT preparation
Earlier in the meeting, before public comment, deputies briefed the board on several recent training efforts. One deputy reported that the Sheriff’s department attended a Drug Enforcement Administration conference for additional training, calling it “a good deal” for the department. The department also attended a crash‑mapping seminar hosted by UAB, which will allow crash recinstructionists to use drones and specialized software instead of “doing all the legwork of measuring things out.”
The sheriff’s office also announced that Deputy Prestin Hillman has been “successfully certified as [a] K‑9 partner,” a process described as involving “a lot of work” to keep the dog up to certification standards. The dog’s name is “Tiko.”
SWAT training has included building movable walls, using materials donated by Renee Crick from the county’s emergency management agency, so the team can “recreate a structure” and practice close‑quarters tactics before serving high‑risk warrants.
View the March 18th Sheriff’s Office Merit Board Meeting HERE
For background information on how the Merit Board works in Clinton County, CLICK HERE
