Lawsuit: Fayette Co. assistant prosecutor took nude photos of woman getting spray tan
An assistant Fayette County prosecutor photographed a woman who was nude and receiving a spray tan across the street from the county attorney’s office without the woman’s consent, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.
The unidentified male employee is accused of taking photos and/or video of the woman on April 4, 2024, while she was getting a spray tan in a home on East Main Street in downtown Lexington.
The woman spotted the employee, the lawsuit says, and the tanning technician helped cover her up. The employee then turned off his office light but kept his phone out and facing the woman, the lawsuit says.
When confronted by the woman’s lawyer, Fayette County Attorney Angela Evans “refused” to allow the lawyer to inspect the employee’s phone, according to the suit.
Evans is also named in the suit, which claims negligence, negligent hiring, voyeurism and distribution of sexually explicit images.
Both Evans and James Yoder, the woman’s lawyer, said the woman reported the incident to police, but police did not pursue charges.
“The allegations raised in the lawsuit filed by attorney Yoder on behalf of his client were reported by her to the Lexington Police Department last year at the time of the alleged incident. My office fully cooperated with the outside investigation by police, and understands the police declined to pursue the matter after investigation,” Evans said in a statement Friday.
Evans also noted that federal and state employment laws prohibited her office from allowing inspection of the lawyer’s personal cell phone.
“My office is confident that appropriate steps were taken to address the matter and that the claims being made will be thoroughly refuted,” Evans said.
It was not immediately clear if the employee still works for Evans’ office, which employs 14 assistant county attorneys.
“There is no doubt in my mind that if an ordinary citizen had been accused of the same conduct he would have been charged with voyeurism,” Yoder said.
A spokesperson for Lexington police said the case “was assigned to a detective in our Special Victims Section, who investigated and documented the complaint.”
What the suit alleges
The woman was receiving a spray tan inside a home last spring before her upcoming wedding, according to the lawsuit.
After realizing she was being recorded, the woman had her lawyer contact Evans’ office to ensure any photos or videos were deleted.
“Evans refused to allow an inspection,” the lawsuit says.
Evans was appointed as Fayette County’s top prosecutor after her longtime predecessor, Larry Roberts, resigned in 2022. She then won a primary race in May, and with no challengers in the general election, she was affirmed to the position in 2023.
The woman is seeking punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Muth Goodman will preside over the case.
A date has not been set for a hearing in the case.
This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 11:15 AM.
