Former Kentucky judge gets 20-year sentence for human trafficking
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A former Kentucky judge has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to human trafficking.
Timothy Nolan was sentenced on Friday, report the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Associated Press and a press release. He was accused of extorting sex for drugs.
The charges involved 19 females, including seven under the age of 18. All but two of the victims were addicted to opioids. He had pleaded guilty to the charges in February, then sought to rescind the deal a month later.
Nolan was active in politics, and he told his victims he knew powerful people who could put them in jail and take away their children, prosecutors alleged. He had claimed to head the Trump campaign in Campbell County, but he apparently held no official position, the Enquirer previously reported. The Enquirer said he was 72 years old at sentencing, while the press release listed his age as 71.
One victim said in a letter to the court that Nolan told her if she left his apartment he would call police, and she would go back to jail because she was on the run. “I ended up turning myself in because jail was better than one more second spent with Tim Nolan,” she wrote.
Judge Kathleen Lape said she would not allow Nolan to back out of the agreement.
“The threats and abuse end today,” she said.
Nolan was a judge in Campbell County in the 1970s and 1980s. A 16-year-old girl was the first to come forward with an accusation of sexual abuse, made to her high school counselor.
Nolan had requested probation. In a courtroom statement, he said he was “so sorry for my crimes, even though I’m a first-time offender with a low-risk to re-offend.” In March, he had accused the judge and her family of a vendetta against him, according to the Enquirer.
