Police and courts in the Lexington, Ky., area
LANCASTER - After being stripped of his badge and blue lights, Garrard County Constable Mike Mullins now faces criminal charges.
According to the criminal complaint provided by Garrard County Attorney Jeff Moss, Mullins has been charged with second-degree official misconduct and third-degree criminal trespassing.
Read the full story in the Advocate-Messenger
By Jillian Ogawa
jogawa@herald-leader.com
A Bourbon County grand jury has indicted the Bourbon County jailer and his deputy on a number of charges, including some stemming from allegations that staffers tampered with documents related to the death of an inmate.
Jailer Tony Horn has been charged with two counts of tampering with public records, a class D felony, and two counts of first-degree official misconduct, a class A misdemeanor. Chief Deputy Jailer Sandy Dotson has been charged with two counts of tampering with physical evidence, a class D felony, and one count of official misconduct.
Tuesday’s indictments come nearly a month after state police executed a search warrant at the jail.
At the time, police said they were investigating narcotics “improperly stored or held”; reports that inmates had a cell phone and were “making inappropriate phone calls while on work release”; and the circumstances surrounding the death of Daniel Trimble, an inmate who committed suicide in February.
The indictment says Horn ordered the destruction of e-mails after Trimble’s death with “the intent to impair the e-mails’ availability for use in the official proceeding.”
Horn faxed a fabricated document to the Department of Corrections in February “believing that an official proceeding was pending,” according to the indictment.
It also says that on April 27 Horn did not investigate or report to the Department of Corrections when he was told of the disappearance of 30 methadone pills. And, on July 16, Horn allowed an inmate who was charged with first-degree robbery to be on work release without a court order.
Dotson is accused of ordering a deputy jailer to create a false observation call record document after the death of an inmate in February. She is also accused of concealing a file related to the death investigation. Dotson was also failing to investigate or report the disappearance of methadone pills.
Neither Dotson nor Horn could be reached for comment.
A supervisor at the jail said Dotson has been on vacation for the past week. Horn was not at the jail.
Their employment status was unclear.
Horn and Dotson are scheduled to appear in Bourbon Circuit Court at 1 p.m. Oct. 14.
By Jim Warren
jwarren@herald-leader.com
A onetime senior aide to former Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac pleaded guilty in Fayette Circuit Court Friday to a charge of official misconduct in the first degree.
Becky Estep is scheduled for sentencing before Fayette Circuit Judge Thomas Clark on Oct. 13.
Meanwhile, a case is still pending against Debbie Jones, who was an administrative assistant in Isaac’s administration. Jones has another court appearance on Sept. 5.
Jones and Estep were indicted by a Fayette County Grand Jury last March on one count each of theft by unlawful taking over $300, a Class D felony.
According to court documents filed last March, Estep used money belonging to the Lexington Festival Committee to buy clothes, popcorn and lunches worth more than $300. Jones allegedly used money from the same source to pay for a trip to Gatlinburg, Tenn., as well as gift cards and lunches totalling more than $300.
The charge to which Estep pleaded guilty, official misconduct in the first degree, is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail or a fine of up to $500 or both.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Larson’s office is recommending that Estep serve 180 days in jail and make restitution for what she took. The amount of restitution is still being calculated.
Under Kentucky law, public servants are guilty of official misconduct in the first degree if they knowingly commit acts related to their office that constitute an unauthorized exercise of official function ”with intent to obtain or confer a benefit, or to injure another person or deprive another person of a benefit …“
Reach Jim Warren at 1-800-950-6397 Ext. 3255 or 859-231-3255
The latest from Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson
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