Victim alleging rape by ex-Kentucky cabinet official said she blacked out, awoke in hotel
The alleged victim in a rape case against an ex-Kentucky cabinet official and state representative told police she blacked out after a man she didn’t know gave her an alcoholic drink while she and a friend were visiting bars in downtown Lexington last April.
“The next morning, the victim woke up unclothed in an unknown room in the Marriott Hotel (121 Vine St.) with no memory of how she arrived there,” according to a police affidavit filed in Fayette District Court.
John Tilley, 54, the former secretary of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet and a former state representative, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree rape. He was indicted in October.
Police allege that he had sex with the victim, who is not named, while she was too intoxicated to consent.
Police also said hotel staff identified Tilley as one of three men who can be seen on video surveillance footage leaving the Pavilion area with the woman.
“Mr. Tilley can be seen guiding and assisting the victim, who was extremely unstable on her feet and needed help keeping her balance,” police wrote in the affidavit.
The four came into the hotel lobby and took the elevator to the sixth floor, where police said Tilley and the victim got off the elevator and left the other two men behind.
“The victim also produced a photo which showed her and Mr. Tilley taking a selfie together at Belle’s Cocktail House,” police said.
Police said the woman and her friend had also visited Wildcat Saloon, Centro and Bluegrass Tavern.
One of Tilley’s attorneys told WDRB that “other evidence” has shown that the man in the photo is not Tilley.
Attorneys Christopher Spedding and Steve Schroering said in a statement last August, when Tilley was charged, that Tilley “maintains his innocence of any criminal wrongdoing and has fully cooperated in the investigation.
“He respects the court process and will have no further comment at this time,” Spedding and Schroering wrote.
Police said the victim took an Uber home from the hotel, and her roommate drove her to a local hospital, where an exam showed multiple tears in the vaginal area and what appeared to be a bruise on her back.
The police affidavit was filed in June in support of a search warrant seeking a DNA sample from Tilley, which he was ordered to provide.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for March 3.
Tilley, an attorney, represented Christian and Trigg counties as a Democratic state representative from 2007 to 2015, when he was appointed secretary of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet by former Gov. Matt Bevin.
