Suit alleges Kentucky deputy forced women to have sex in judge’s chamber in lieu of fees

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky. — A Kentucky woman says in a federal lawsuit that a Letcher County deputy sheriff told her she would receive “favorable treatment for sexual favors” when she couldn’t afford to pay for the incarceration.

In the lawsuit filed in US court Monday, Sabrina Adkins says Deputy Ben Fields met her late at night six times last year in the chambers of a district judge and forced her to engage in unwanted kissing, oral sex and intercourse.

Plaintiff was forced and compelled to comply with Defendant Fields’ claims given his “position and power and because she could not afford to pay for the ankle monitor and did not want to return to the Letcher County Jail,” the lawsuit says.

Fields was out of work Monday and did not respond to a message left at the sheriff’s office. Fields has not been criminally charged, nor has he been disciplined in connection with the charges.

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Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines, named as a defendant in the lawsuit for allegedly failing to train Fields properly, said in an interview that Fields is a veteran and has not been the subject of previous complaints.

The lawsuit says the abuse took place in the chamber of District Judge Kevin Mullins, but does not say he was aware of it or claimed he was involved in any wrongdoing. Mullins did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Stines, who said he learned of the lawsuit from a reporter, noted that Adkins was charged with escaping on Jan. 26. She was charged with possession of a controlled substance last year.

In the lawsuit, filed by Bethany Baxter of Lexington and Ned Pillersdsorf of Prestonsburg, Adkins, 45, says that after she was released from the Letcher County Jail on June 2, Field was assigned as her incarceration officer and visited her to bring her cigarettes. and comfort her.

She says she told him she had no money to pay for her anklet and was terrified of going back to prison.

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The suit says Fields made “flirty comments” about her appearance, telling her he was confident they “could work something out.”

In late June, the suit says, he asked her to come to the courthouse after dark and took her to a judge’s chambers and told her there were no cameras there.

He would then have taken off her anklet and told her that she did not have to pay any costs, but could remain locked up at home.

Between late June and December, Fields met her there at night or early morning about six times and is said to have sexually assaulted her there. The suit says he would put her bracelet on in court.

She said that after certain unnamed individuals at the courthouse reported that Fields had inappropriately contacted her and sent text messages to prove it, he filed a complaint against her that she did not meet the conditions of home confinement to keep her. and “in an effort to save his reputation.”

Pillersdorf said her lawyers have the lyrics. He declined to share them with The Courier Journal.

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The lawsuit alleges “following information and belief that there are other women who Fields has abused in a similar manner.”

It also says Sheriff Stines has not “reasonably responded” to reports or suspicions.

The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for assault, assault and violations of her constitutional rights.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky woman says sheriff’s deputy forced her to have sex in judge’s chambers

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