Kentucky lawyer pleads guilty to human trafficking charges involving five victims
An attorney from Northern Kentucky has pleaded guilty to human trafficking charges involving five victims.
Robert L. Poole, 53, of Florence, pleaded guilty to five counts of promoting human trafficking — commercial sex activity. He entered the plea in Kenton Circuit Court, the Kentucky attorney general’s office announced Friday afternoon.
Poole is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 16.
He was indicted in Kenton County in November 2018, after a nine-month investigation by the Erlanger Police Department and attorney general’s office. Erlanger police said at the time that some of the sex crimes involved minors.
The investigation into Poole’s activity began when investigators in Campbell County who had been involved in the case against former Campbell District Judge Timothy Nolan contacted Erlanger police because they had discovered evidence that also implicated Poole, police have said.
Nolan was sentenced to 20 years in prison for human trafficking in 2018. The attorney general’s office said at the time that there were 19 victims in that case, some of whom were minors.
The attorney general’s office said other human trafficking charges are still pending against Poole in Boone County.
Court records indicate that he is charged with four counts of human trafficking — commercial sex activity and one count of bribing a witness in the Boone Circuit Court case, which was initiated earlier this year. The next hearing in that case is scheduled for Dec. 8.
