Former Letcher Co. deputy accused of trading leniency for sex settles lawsuit
A former Eastern Kentucky court security guard accused of exchanging legal leniency in return for sexual favors settled a civil suit the same day his the trial was scheduled to start.
Potential jurors were lined up to be selected for the trial when Ben Fields, a former Letcher County deputy, agreed to settle the claims against him.
The civil lawsuit against deputy Fields was filed in January 2022, when Sabrina Adkins alleged Fields, a former certified court security officer, coerced her into having sex with him in a judge’s chambers in exchange for not having to pay her court monitoring fees.
The Letcher County Sheriff’s Department was also a defendant in Adkins’ lawsuit.
Joe Childers, an attorney for Adkins, confirmed the sheriff’s department and Fields agreed to a settlement Tuesday morning.
He did not disclose the terms of the settlement or a dollar amount. However, he said Adkins, who has been sober and in therapy for a year, did not have to relive her trauma.
“We are very pleased with the settlement,” Childers said.
Jonathan Shaw, an attorney for the sheriff’s department, confirmed the settlement, but did not offer additional comment.
Adkins’ case garnered renewed attention following the high-profile shooting with the previous Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, who was charged with the murder of a local judge, Kevin Mullins. Stines’ criminal case remains ongoing.
Stines’ lawyer previously told investigators the “tense” deposition, which happened just days before Stines was captured on camera shooting and killing Mullins in the judge’s chambers on Sept. 19, 2024, would be “crucial” to his client’s defense, but did not say how.
Stines was previously expected to testify at the trial, but a judge later ruled his presence could be a distraction to jurors. Attorneys were instead going to use his previous deposition as his testimony.
Fields was accused of performing the sex acts in Mullins’ chambers because he thought there were no cameras in the room. It is unclear if there were cameras at the time, but cameras were present during the shooting of Mullins, which was recorded.
Fields has already been sentenced to and released from prison for his criminal behavior in the Adkins case. He pleaded guilty to third-degree rape, third-degree sodomy, tampering with a monitoring device and second degree perjury.
Adkins was under Fields’ supervision between June 2021 and January 2022. Fields was sentenced in January 2024 to serve six months in jail.
This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 12:24 PM.
