A former District Court judge pleaded guilty on Friday to 21 counts, including human trafficking of adults, promoting human trafficking of minors, and unlawful transaction with minors. Facing more than 100 years in prison, the former Kentucky judge agreed to a sentence of 20 years in exchange for his plea agreement.
Indicted on 28 felony counts and two misdemeanor counts, former Campbell County District Judge Timothy Nolan used drugs, threats of arrest, and threats of eviction to force women and girls under the age of 18 into sex acts. Besides giving alcohol and drugs to minors between 2010 and 2017, Nolan also committed human trafficking with a minor by subjecting a child under the age of 18 to engage in commercial sexual activity.
On Friday, Judge Kathleen Lape read the charges against Nolan, including threatening victims who lived on his property in southern Campbell County with arrest or eviction unless they performed sex acts, withholding drug money to heroin addicts unless sex acts were performed, and asking a minor to engage in sex for money. Pleading guilty to 21 counts against 19 victims, Nolan agreed to spend 20 years in prison and pay $110,000 in fines, a large portion of which will go into the Human Trafficking Victims Fund established by Kentucky lawmakers in 2013.
“The punishment in this case does not undo the trauma inflicted on the victims, but it brings closure and some justice,” Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear stated. “I want to thank the Campbell County Police Department and our special prosecutions team for working this case.”
Nolan remains in custody at the Campbell County Detention Center pending his scheduled sentencing on March 29, 2018, at 9 a.m. Eligible for parole in four years, Nolan is subject to lifetime sex offender registration.
Serving as a district judge in the 1970s and 1980s, Nolan was later elected to the Campbell County School Board in 2016. He also campaigned locally for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
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