Lexington police officer facing criminal charges pleads guilty, resigns
A Lexington police officer previously charged with distributing obscene materials to a 17-year-old pleaded guilty to amended charges Monday morning in court.
Nathaniel Schickler, 26, was originally charged May 20 with one count of distributing obscene materials to a minor and one count of tampering with physical evidence, which is a Class D felony.
Schickler accepted a plea deal from the Fayette County Attorney’s office Monday, which dismissed the charge of distributing obscene materials and amended the tampering charge to attempted evidence tampering. That is a misdemeanor offense.
The charge of distributing obscene material was dismissed with prejudice, meaning the courts cannot file the same claim against Schickler at a later time.
As a result of the plea deal, Schickler agreed to resign from the police department. He can’t have any contact with the victim in the case. Additionally, Schickler was required to surrender his law enforcement certification, meaning he can no longer be employed as a member of law enforcement.
Schickler’s criminal summons said he knowingly sent a 17-year-old “sexually explicit messages and images,” and was aware they were a minor.
As he was being investigated, police claimed Schickler attempted to destroy or remove evidence from his phone or online accounts that he thought would be used against him.
Schickler’s attorney, Brandon Marshall, was not immediately available for comment.
This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 10:34 AM.
