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Benjamin A. Hunter, 46, of New Albany, Indiana, told a Forest Service officer he burned his toilet paper after a late-night bathroom trip near his Auxier Ridge campsite on March 25 and the dry leaves caught. The six-acre fire closed Tunnel Ridge Road and four trails for five days. A federal magistrate ordered $6,100 in restitution and no fine.
Jason Coulter, 48, the youth pastor at Green River Pentecostal Church near Hustonville who called Kentucky State Police on Aug. 14 to confess to a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old in his youth group, was charged Thursday in federal court in Lexington with online enticement of a minor. The charge carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. An FBI affidavit says he and the girl exchanged nude images on Snapchat and TikTok and met for sex twice, in Harrodsburg and Lincoln County.
Angelina Harrison, a Fayette County woman who worked for Kona Ice of the Bluegrass, has filed a federal class- and collective-action suit accusing the Richmond shaved-ice operation's owners of unpaid overtime, denied breaks and paying women less for equal work. The suit targets the local operators, not Kona Ice's national franchisor. The defendants have not yet responded.
Quincino Waide Jr., charged with helping co-defendants ditch the 'murder vehicle' used to kill a federal witness, argued the case against him was payback for invoking his right to remain silent. U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove disagreed, ruling that the timing reflected an ordinary criminal investigation — not retaliation — and that prosecutors had told Waide his testimony likely would not be needed.
Ryan Carnahan, a senior officer at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, admits he slapped and punched an un-handcuffed inmate in a Special Housing Unit cell, then lied to a supervisor and in a written report. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 20 in U.S. District Court before Judge Karen K. Caldwell.