FBI opens criminal investigation of Louisville police's Youth Explorer program
The FBI has launched a criminal investigation of allegations that Louisville Metro Police officers sexually abused a member of the department’s Youth Explorer program.
Special Agent David Habich, an FBI spokesman, said the agency conducted an initial review at the request of Mayor Greg Fischer's office and the Metro Council and subsequently initiated a criminal investigation.
“Per Department of Justice policy, we cannot further comment on the nature or progress of an ongoing investigation,” Habich wrote in an email.
Fischer spokeswoman Jean Porter called the FBI's entrance into the case a positive development, saying, "We remain committed to getting to the facts in this case.” The police department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fischer told the Courier-Journal on March 17 that he had asked the FBI to investigate what he called “our worst nightmare” — the possible abuse of minors in the Youth Explorer program.
Former U.S. Attorney Kerry Harvey, whom the city has asked to investigate whether the police covered up the allegations, said the FBI might have jurisdiction because the alleged misconduct could constitute a civil rights violation.
Harvey said Monday the FBI's involvement shouldn't impact his review, which has been postponed after a Metro Council committee questioned how independent it would be from the mayor's office. But Harvey added that once his internal probe begins, it will be broader than the FBI's investigation and look beyond the police department's actions.
"It would include — to the extent that I can gain access to the information — the response of anyone associated with city government, so it would be broader than the police department," Harvey said.
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Fischer suspended the Explorer program and called upon Harvey's services in the wake of a lawsuit in which a former Scout identified as N.C. alleges that he had been sexually abused by two police officers, Kenneth Betts and Brandon Wood, who were advisers to the Explorer program, and that the department concealed it. The suit was sealed, but the Courier-Journal obtained a copy and has filed a motion to unseal the case.
Attorney David Yates, who represents N.C. and is Metro Council president, said he has talked with three others who also alleged they were abused in the program for youths ages 14 to 19, including a young woman who said Betts initiated inappropriate contact. Department records show Chief Steve Conrad closed an internal investigation of that allegation when Betts resigned in 2014. Wood was placed on an administrative assignment last fall pending an investigation by the department's Public Integrity Unit.
Under federal law, it is a crime for anyone acting under “color of law” to willfully deprive or conspire to deprive a person of a right protected by the Constitution or U.S. law. “Color of law” means the person is using authority given to him by a government agency.
The FBI says on its website that sexual assaults by officials acting under color of law can happen in jails, during traffic stops, or in other settings where officials might use their position of authority to coerce an individual into sexual compliance. N.C.'s lawsuit says he was between 17 and 19 when he was abused; 16 is normally the age of consent in Kentucky, but it rises to 18 if the adult is in a position of trust over the minor.
FBI civil rights investigations vary in length. Once an investigation is completed, the findings are forwarded to the U.S. attorney’s office in the district where the alleged crimes occurred and to the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., which decide jointly whether to prosecute.
Punishments range from a fine or imprisonment of up to one year. If the victim is injured, the perpetrator can be fined and imprisoned up to 10 years.
Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at 502-582-7189 or awolfson@courier-journal.com. Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at 502-582-4475 or pbailey@courier-journal.com.