Louisville Police Deletes Evidence Amid Officer Rape Allegations
A bombshell report from The Courier Journal in Louisville has revealed more shocking allegations against the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) involving their “Explorer Scout” extension program for youths interested in law enforcement careers. According to local Louisville reports, the LMPD concealed at least 738,000 records documenting the sexual abuse of Explorer Scouts by two police officers, and when faced with a request for more information, the officials in the department lied to keep the files from the public.
The Courier Journal made an official request last year for all LMPD records regarding sexual abuse allegations by minors who were participating in the Explorer Scout Program. The Courier Journal reports that Louisville Police officials, along with the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office, responded by claiming all records and all copies of records had been turned over to the FBI for further investigation.
But, according to recently obtained court records, the allegation of failing to comply with the records requests was based on something else, and “the department still had at least 738,000 records, which the city allowed to be deleted.” The deleted records in question are pivotal to any ongoing investigation, and could specify when LMPD and city officials first learned of these sexual abuse allegations, and what, if anything, was done about it.
An investigation into allegations against officers participating in the Explorer Scout Program began in October of 2016, and the police department confirmed, at that time, that an officer was under review for his conduct with youth participating in the program sponsored by LMPD.
The Courier Journal published the following details in 2016, soon after they confirmed that an investigation had begun:
“Five months later, a 22-year-old identified as N.C. alleged in a lawsuit he was sexually abused by officers Kenneth Betts and Brandon Wood in the Explorer program when he was between 17 and 19 years old and that the abuse occurred in their homes and police cars.
The suit, which six other plaintiffs later joined, also accused the city, the police department and then-Lt. Curtis Flaherty, who ran the program, of conspiring to cover up the abuse. The defendants, who also include the Boy Scouts of America, later denied the allegations.”
A second suit was filed by a plaintiff identified as C.F., on Aug. 31, 2017. The victim alleged that Betts had raped him. Ultimately, seven suits, involving at least seven different victims, were filed naming Betts, Wood or other officers, and other defendants.
Officer Betts, who resigned in 2014, had been investigated in 2013 and 2014 for improper conduct with a female Explorer Scout. But, former Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Steve Conrad, closed the investigation when Betts resigned in 2014. Conrad retired at the end of June of this year, amid criticism over the Breonna Taylor case. The Louisville Mayor’s Office did not specify the exact reason for Conrad’s departure.
The Explorer Scout Program was shut down entirely on March 13, 2017, by Mayor Fischer. Former US Attorney Kerry Harvey, was hired by the city on March 17 just after the program was ended, to investigate allegations. Harvey found that LMPD mishandled allegations that teens were sexually abused and harassed in the program, and that there were “violations of policy and mistakes in judgment, some significant."
Only this week, a third Louisville Metro Police officer was indicted on charges of sexually abusing a juvenile in the same Explorer Scout Program. A federal grand jury indicted Brad Schuhmann, a police officer at the time of the alleged event, of sexually abusing a minor in 2010. The charges specify that he "willfully deprived” a juvenile identified as Jane Doe of “of liberty without due process of law, which includes the right not to have her bodily integrity violated by a person acting under color of law."
A spokesperson for the LMPD has confirmed that Schuhmann, who was the 2006 Explorer Scout of the Year, and who later became an advisor in the program, resigned on Nov. 3 of this year, the day the indictment was announced. The single misdemeanor count of "deprivation of rights under color of law," a civil rights violation claimed now against Schuhmann, is punishable by up to a year in prison.
The Jane Doe victim listed previously, also accused Schuhmann of sexually harassing and assaulting her in 2017, according to Tad Thomas, one of the attorneys representing former scouts in a pending federal civil suit.
A suit in 2017 was filed by another former minor female scout, identified as B.L., which revealed that Schuhmann had allegedly groped and sent sexual messages to her between 2008 and 2009. That case is still pending, but Schuhmann has denied the allegations and argues that regardless, the statute of limitations has expired. The Jefferson Commonwealth Attorney’s Office declined to charge Schuhmann in 2019 for any of the above listed complaints.
In July of 2019, Betts was sentenced to 16 years on federal child pornography and enticement charges involving multiple victims. He also pleaded guilty to sodomy charges in state court. Wood was sentenced last year to 70 months in prison for attempted enticement of a teen who he met through an Explorer camp in Bullitt County where Wood was a counselor
Despite the allegations, and what we now know are 738,000 alleged records involving claims of rampant sexual abuse against minors in the scouting program, no charges were ever filed at the state level. In April 2017, the FBI opened a criminal investigation into the police scouting program, at the request of Mayor Fischer. Wood and Betts eventually pleaded guilty to criminal charges at the federal level.
Wood was sentenced in federal court to 70 months in prison for attempted enticement of a teen in the youth mentoring program, and he also pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree sexual abuse in state court. Wood, 34, is incarcerated in a federal prison in Lisbon, Ohio, and scheduled for release in 2024.
Betts was sentenced to 16 years on child pornography that involved four victims, and enticement charges pursuant to a plea agreement with federal authorities. He also pleaded guilty to sodomy charges in state court. The sentencing guidelines in Betts’ case call for up to 27 years, so his deal was on the low end of the scale in terms of punishment. Betts, 36, is in prison in Loretto, Pennsylvania, and his release date is in 2032.
In May and July of 2019, the Courier Journal filed requests for LMPD's investigative files on former officers Brandon Wood and Kenneth Betts, who were accused of sexually abusing youths in the Explorer program and were being sentenced at that time. The response from LMPD specified that "any records … would previously have been turned over to the FBI,” and that a joint task force was still investigating allegations within the scouting program.
The Courier Journal was told the same thing in court when appealing the denial of their records request to the attorney general’s office, by Assistant Jefferson County Attorney Annale Taylor. But, in October of this year, the Courier Journal received a letter from the Jefferson County Attorney, amending previous factual statements made in error. In the letter, they acknowledged that 9,700 folders containing 738,000 documents, or 470 gigabytes of data, had been found on a secret folder.
Assistant Jefferson County Attorney Roy Denny told the Courier Journal that files are only available on the city’s encrypted backup system for 30 days and that there is no way to recover them at this stage. Denny also confirmed that he had requested that the City of Louisville contact the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office to urge them to turn over the records, but a protective order meant to protect minors might prohibit it.
Jon Fleischaker, attorney of record for The Courier Journal, claims the City of Louisville has, in fact, destroyed evidence. "They have destroyed their ability to comply with the open records law, and they did it purposely, and they didn’t tell the truth about it,” says Fleischaker. "They can't require us to go elsewhere to get those documents."
Kenyon Meyer, a lawyer hired by the county attorney’s office to investigate the claims, disputes the allegations made by the newspaper and insists that no records were destroyed. Meyer went on to say, "The Courier Journal has every ability to obtain the records from the custodian of the records — the FBI." Meyer also insists that no evidence has been deleted.
While the newspaper has since filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the FBI, it has been denied. But, Fleischaker argues that the open records law doesn't require The Courier Journal to go to the FBI to get the records if LMPD has them.
Meyer was hired as outside counsel by the Jefferson County Attorney to investigate after The Courier Journal alleged misconduct in court on Oct. 23, 2020. It could very well be that more outside counsel will need to be brought in, based on the ongoing investigations, as well as more allegations that keep surfacing.
Another new lawsuit has recently been filed against former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison, the same officer who was involved in the Breonna Taylor case, where three officers fired a weapon into her apartment on March 13, ultimately killing her. Hankinson narrowly escaped murder charges when the grand jury did not indict the officers involved.
Louisville attorney Margo Borders has just pressed charges, accusing Hankison of "willfully, intentionally, painfully and violently" sexually assaulting her after offering her a ride home from a bar in 2018. Borders gave a statement to The Courier Journal in which she called Hankinson a "sexual predator [who left her] physically injured and mentally battered."
Borders says on April 20, 2018, Hankison insisted on giving her a ride home after he saw her leaving a bar and invited himself inside her apartment where he sexually assaulted her. Borders says that she yelled for Hankison to get off of her at the time of the assault, and according to the suit, left her bloodied and in "tremendous physical pain.” Hankison apparently messaged Borders the next day in what Borders calls an attempt to "suggest that the two had engaged in consensual relations.”
In yet another odd twist of incredulity involving the Louisville Metro Police, one of the other officers involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, has filed an assault and battery claim against the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor who was there the night of her death. Mattingly claims that he should be entitled to compensatory damages for the medical treatment, trauma, physical pain and mental anguish he experienced as a result of the night Ms. Taylor died, even though one of the officers present that night is responsible for actually killing Breonna Taylor, and has not be charged for her death.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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Wow. The Louisville KY Police department is rotten to the core.
Horrendous.
Destroying evidence?
Anything is somehow recoverable, right? !
Prosecute every single one.