Sheriff Kleinhelter loses Indiana law enforcement certification but keeps elected office
by Casey Smith, Indiana Capital Chronicle (Cover photo by Casey Smith as well)
June 15, 2026
The Indiana Law Enforcement Training Board accepted Dubois County Sheriff Thomas Kleinhelter’s voluntary relinquishment of his certification Monday — but the action does not remove the embattled sheriff from his office.
Kleinhelter will serve as county sheriff without the law enforcement credentials required of most Hoosier police officers. Indiana’s sheriffs are elected constitutional officers whose authority comes from voters rather than certification by the state training board. Dubois County Sheriff Tom Kleinhelter (Photo courtesy Dubois County Sheriff’s Office Facebook)
He also continues to face pending criminal charges in Marion County, alleging he lied to Indiana State Police investigators during a months-long probe into accusations that he misused public resources and abused his office.
Kleinhelter has pleaded not guilty.
“Really, this probably doesn’t change much until he’s done being sheriff,” Indiana State Police Superintendent Anthony Scott, who chairs the training board, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle after Monday’s meeting. “He’s an elected official, so technically, we can’t take that away from him.”
During Monday’s meeting, board members voted to accept a settlement agreement under which Kleinhelter voluntarily relinquished his law enforcement certification. Board member Russ McQuaid abstained from the vote; all other members voted in favor.
The settlement also required Kleinhelter to resign from the training board, although that provision had already been satisfied when Gov. Mike Braun removed him from the board in April.
The agreement, obtained by the Capital Chronicle, states that Kleinhelter’s surrender of his certification “does not constitute an admission of misconduct” and instead is intended to resolve disputed allegations and avoid a scheduled hearing.
“I voluntarily gave up the certification, and if you have read it, there is no finding or admission of any wrongdoing,” Kleinhelter said in a brief email response to the Capital Chronicle after the meeting. “NO FURTHER COMMENT.”
Kleinhelter decertified
With Monday’s vote, the settlement takes effect immediately and resolves the board’s administrative certification case against Kleinhelter.
“[Kleinhelter] gets his appointment through the Indiana State Constitution, so he doesn’t need our certification to be sheriff,” Tim Horty, executive director of the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, told the Capital Chronicle on Monday. “But now he has no law enforcement authority outside of his sheriff responsibility — so when he leaves the sheriff’s office, he cannot be a police officer anywhere in the state.”
Horty said Kleinhelter could petition the board to restore his certification in the future, but any reinstatement request would require board approval.Indiana Police Superintendent Anthony Scott outside the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy on Monday, June 15, 2026. (Photo by Casey Smith/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
“He can never get a law enforcement certification in Indiana unless this board would approve it later,” Scott said.
Monday’s vote is the latest development in the ongoing saga surrounding the Dubois County sheriff.
The underlying case grew out of a 2024 State Board of Accounts audit that identified roughly $78,000 in questionable spending from the Dubois County Sheriff’s Office commissary fund, including expenditures for travel, meals and other costs connected with trips taken by Kleinhelter and his wife, who was not a department employee.
The audit prompted an Indiana State Police investigation into allegations that Kleinhelter improperly used county funds, equipment and employees for personal benefit. A special prosecutor ultimately declined to file criminal charges stemming from those allegations.
Months later, however, after the investigative file was reviewed by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, Kleinhelter was charged with multiple felony counts alleging he knowingly made false material statements to state police investigators during the probe.
Court records show a pretrial conference is scheduled for June 30.
Next steps left to Dubois County
The law enforcement board rejected an earlier proposed settlement in April that similarly would have allowed Kleinhelter to voluntarily relinquish his certification and resign from the board. Braun opted to remove the sheriff from the training board hours later.
Under the settlement approved Monday, Kleinhelter’s name will be added to decertification databases maintained by ILEA and the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training.
Although the decertification prevents Kleinhelter from serving as a law enforcement officer elsewhere in Indiana without future board approval, officials emphasized that it does not affect the constitutional powers of his elected office.
“It certainly says something about his ability as a police officer,” Horty said. “The folks in Dubois County decide how they want to proceed.”
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
