Tag: Kentucky
Kentucky pastor busted for trying to set up threesome with minors
A Kentucky pastor was busted for trying to set up a threesome with two minors who work for him, according to police.
Bobby Blackburn, who is the pastor of Elevate Church, turned himself in on Wednesday on felony charges of prohibited use of an electronic communication system to procure a minor to commit a sex act, the Prestonsburg police department said.
Blackburn, 26, allegedly texted a female employee, who is a minor, to arrange a threesome with her and another underage girl who work at his business.
The police report didn’t state where Blackburn employs the girls, but he’s listed as the owner of a Prestonsburg pizza shop on LinkedIn, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Police said one of the girls showed an officer text messages from the pastor allegedly requesting the threesome and other sexual acts.
A third girl visited the police department and claimed she sent the obscene messages from the pastor’s phone, but later recanted, according to police. She allegedly told officers that Blackburn threatened she would lose her job if she didn’t say she was behind the texts.
Officers went to retrieve Blackburn’s phone through a search warrant, but his relatives claimed the device was tossed into a local river, authorities said.
Blackburn is scheduled to appear in court June 16 for his arraignment. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.
He could not be immediately reached for comment.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/06/03/kentucky-pastor-busted-for-trying-to-set-up-threesome-with-minors/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/Prestonburg Police
Doctor accused of impregnating teen he planned to marry
A Missouri doctor facing child pornography charges is accused of impregnating a 16-year-old girl whom he planned to wed, according to court records.
Dr. Ashu Joshi, who works at St. Louis University Hospital, pleaded not guilty to charges of production and receipt of child pornography and transportation of a minor across state lines for sex, the St. Louis Dispatch reported.
Details of the 46-year-old doctor’s alleged relationship with the Kentucky teen were made public last week after he was released from jail on bail.
Prosecutors allege that Joshi began a relationship with the teen girl after treating her mother as a patient.
The teen initially wanted to discuss becoming a doctor with him, according to officials, but later became his babysitter.
The girl’s mother told officials that she knew her daughter was “dating” Joshi, but didn’t approve of them having a sexual relationship.
The alleged relationship became known to authorities after the pair exchanged images containing child porn on Facebook, the St. Louis Dispatch reported. They allegedly traded hundreds of photos and videos, some of which showed the pair naked together, according to officials.
Investigators said Joshi asked the girl to marry him and she admitted to officers that he was the father of her unborn child.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/11/26/doctor-accused-of-impregnating-teen-he-planned-to-marry/
Plastic surgeon accused of showing up drunk to operate
A Kentucky plastic surgeon was arrested Monday after allegedly showing up drunk to perform a surgery.
Dr. Theodore Gerstle, of Lexington Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, was scheduled to operate around noon on Monday at the Baptist Heath Lexington, but staff at the hospital were alerted that the physician was intoxicated, hospital spokesperson Ruth Ann Childers told the Lexington Herald Leader.
Gerstle left the hospital, voluntarily and on foot, after the chief medical officer confronted him, WKYT reported. Hospital staff then reportedly called the police. He was arrested a short time later when he was located not far from the hospital.
The surgeon was scheduled for one procedure Monday and had not started operating when he was confronted about his alleged drunken state, Childers told the news station.
“Patient safety is always our number one concern, every day,” Childers said of the incident. “We take these things very seriously and it will be thoroughly investigated.
Gerstle was charged with public intoxication and is being held at the Fayette County Jail, the Herald Leader reported, citing jail records. His staff privileges at the hospital — where he was not technically an employee — have been suspended pending the investigation.
According to the surgical practice’s website, Gerstle, from New York, is “the only Harvard-trained, board-certified plastic surgeon in Lexington,” and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy in West Point.
While it’s unclear what type of surgery Gerstle was scheduled to perform, the practice’s website states he specializes in migraine headaches and a variety of plastic surgery treatments.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/01/16/plastic-surgeon-accused-of-showing-up-drunk-to-operate/
5-year-old boy found dead after watching mom get beaten, thrown from cliff
A Kentucky man was charged Monday with the murder of a 5-year-old boy who watched helplessly as his mother was beaten, bound and pushed off a cliff over the weekend. The mother survived and was found by two hikers who alerted police, prompting a two-day search that ended earlier Monday when the boy’s body was discovered near where his mother was left for dead.
Police arrested Lonnie Belt, 41, and charged him with the murder of James Spoonamore. Belt also faces charges of assault, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. James’ mother, Jessica Durham, is recovering at a Lexington hospital.
Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rick Sanders said he did not know how the boy died. Results of an autopsy likely won’t be available for another two days.
It’s unclear if Belt has an attorney. Sanders said Durham and Belt are acquaintances and were not romantically involved.
Police offered few details of what happened. But a police report says Belt and Durham got into a fight over some money and “he hit her on the head, tied her up and took her to the cliff where he assaulted her again.” Sanders said two hikers discovered Durham Saturday morning at the bottom of an 80-foot embankment.
“James was with Jessica when he took her to the cliff and assaulted her,” the report states.
Sanders declined to answer questions about what happened. He said more than 200 people searched for the boy on Saturday and Sunday. The search involved police dogs, aircraft from the National Guard and lots of volunteers. Sanders said authorities found the boy at 9:31 a.m. about 180 feet off the road in Jackson County, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) southeast of Lexington.
The news was devastating for Durham and her family, which includes some relatives in Florida who were enduring Hurricane Irma while authorities were searching for the boy.
“Honestly, it’s been hell. That’s the only way to describe it,” said Mary Batson, Durham’s sister.
Cynthia Wallace, Durham’s mother and the boy’s grandmother, said she is still without power at her home near Winter Haven, Florida. She described James as a sweet boy who loved playing with cars and trucks and being in the water. He recently started kindergarten, and Wallace said she enjoyed looking at photos Durham sent her of the boy’s first day at school.
“He was so happy, he loved school and he even wanted to go on the weekends,” Wallace said. “It’s hard. It hurts. I just went through a hurricane and all of this here on top of me, I’m just hurt.”
via: http://abc7chicago.com/boy-found-dead-after-watching-mom-get-beaten-thrown-from-cliff/2407993/
Girl Scout leader wanted for stealing $15K worth of cookies
And you thought you loved Thin Mints and Samoas.
A Girl Scout leader from Kentucky has gone on the run after allegedly stealing more than $15,000 worth of cookies from not only her own troop, but maybe neighboring troops as well, reports the Appalachian News-Express.
Leah Ann Vick, of Auxier, Ky., was formally indicted by a Pike County jury on a charge of “felony theft by unlawful taking,” and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, according to district attorney Rick Bartley.
Authorities are currently looking for Vick, 26, who they believe to be actively evading law enforcement.
The crime originally occurred on Feb. 1, per the indictment. According to the Bartley, Vick picked up a large order of cookies for her Wilderness Road chapter — and perhaps a few orders belonging to other troops — in Pikesville, Ky.
Vick was then supposed to return to pay for the cookies once they had been sold (the local troops don’t normally provide payment up front), but she never went back. The Girl Scouts also say they have no record of Vick dropping off her troop’s shipment with her girls.
“She picked up the cookies and never took them to them, so we don’t know what she did with them,” said Bartley.
“She has never paid for any of them and, anyone who has tried to contact her about them has not been able to contact her,” he added.
Authorities also confirmed that Vick has been using “several different addresses” in eastern Kentucky since going on the lam, making it that much harder for law enforcement to track her down.
“It looks like she picked up the cookies and, now, she and the cookies have disappeared,” stated Bartley.
Vick’s indictment follows a similar, though more disturbing incidence of theft from a Girl Scout in California. On Feb. 17, a 12-year-old scout in Union, Calif., was robbed at gunpoint while selling cookies outside a Safeway supermarket alongside her mother. The Union City Police Department later raised $1,000 for the girl’s local troop.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/05/16/girl-scout-leader-wanted-for-stealing-15k-worth-of-cookies/
Kentucky Man Stabbed Father in Church After He Was ‘Moved by the Message’
A Kentucky man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty but mentally ill to stabbing his father during a church service last year, PEOPLE confirms.
Ethan Buckley, 21, reportedly told officials he was “moved by the message” before stabbing his father in the neck. He was charged with first-degree assault.
On August 14, Buckley was arrested after a church pastor told police he was standing at the altar and heard a “weird noise,” according to the Bowling Green Daily News.
According to the paper, the pastor heard Buckley’s father say, “Don’t let him kill me, don’t let him kill me.”
Another pastor heard the disturbance and jumped over chairs to get Buckley off his father. Buckley’s father was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries.
In an affidavit for a search warrant, Bowling Green Police Department detective Mike Nade wrote, “Ethan Buckley stated his father’s time here on earth was up because he had done a lot of good things in life.”
Nade continued, “Ethan Buckley stated he resented his father because his father was such a good guy while he was a screw-up and a drug addict.”
Chris Cohron, commonwealth’s attorney for the eighth judicial circuit, would not comment on the details of the case.
Cohron said Buckley must serve at least 8 years before being considered for any type of release, according to reports. Since he pleaded with mental illness, his sentence allows him to have mental health resources available to him.
Buckley’s attorney James Rhorer did not return a call to his office.
via: https://www.yahoo.com/news/kentucky-man-stabbed-father-church-224707629.html
KY babysitter fires gun shots at children
(RNN) – A woman in Kentucky fired shots at 8-year-old twins and claims she doesn’t remember doing it. Lorie Cornett, the babysitter of the twins, was carrying a loaded and cocked pistol when deputies arrived last Sunday, according to police.
Reports say the children ran to a nearby house, and said their babysitter fired shots and threatened to kill them. Whitley County Sheriff Colan Harrell said while investigating a deputy found three empty cartridges, and the gun had two spent cartridges.
Cornett told police she didn’t remember babysitting the children, and that she was on medication and had been drinking.
She has been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment and is free on bond.
via: http://www.kmov.com/story/29798981/ky-babysitter-fires-gun-shots-at-children