Bevin pardoned man for child porn based on 8-page petition that noted support of Bevin
On his last day in office, former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin pardoned Charles Douglas ‘Doug’ Phelps, a school administrator who pleaded guilty in Laurel County to possession of child pornography and tampering with a witness in 2013. The pardon means Phelps’ name will be erased from the Kentucky sex offender registry.
“This conviction resulted from a process long in duration, long on accusation, long on drama and short on evidence,” Bevin wrote in his pardon. “It was sloppy at best.”
Bevin apparently came to that conclusion using a clemency petition that contained only eight pages, including a hand-written note that said Phelps’ twin brothers are retired Kentucky State Police troopers and “the entire family supported Governor Bevin staunchly!” according to documents obtained by the Herald-Leader.
No official application for a pardon was included in the file.
The packet consisted of four documents — an undated, unsigned timeline of Phelps’ version of events, two 2013 letters from Commonwealth’s Attorney Jackie Steele to Phelps’ attorneys that outline the terms of Phelps’ plea deal, and a 2017 letter written by Phelps’ attorney, Conrad Cessna, that says Cessna urged Phelps to enter a guilty plea in state court in order to avoid possible federal charges.
On the back of that letter is a handwritten note signed by a man named Todd Sasser.
“Mr. Phelps is the brother of twins who retired from KSP,” Sasser wrote, underlining KSP. “The entire family supported Governor Bevin staunchly! Any help would never be forgotten & greatly appreciated.”
Sasser’s name is mentioned nowhere else in the petition and no identifying information is provided about him. Steele said there is a Todd Sasser who lives in Laurel County and, according to his LinkedIn page, he works at Paid2Save, a multi-level marketing company.
“I can’t imagine that as part of a pardon application process,” Steele said of the handwritten note. “I question why it was there and why it would have been important.”
Sasser’s connections to Phelps or Bevin are unclear. His Facebook page is full of posts and photos supportive of President Donald Trump.
There are no records of Phelps, his brothers or Sasser donating to Bevin in the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. Efforts to reach the four men were unsuccessful.
Bevin has said he examined each pardon himself and that money or political support didn’t play a part in his decision making.
His pardon of Phelps was one of several controversial pardons and commutations he issued before leaving office that sparked outrage among prosecutors and victims’ families across the commonwealth, including a pardon for Patrick Baker, who was convicted of a 2014 murder in Knox County. Baker’s brother and sister-in-law held a 2018 fundraiser that raised $21,500 for Bevin. Lawmakers from both parties have called for investigations into how Bevin issued his pardons.
“The myriad statements and suggestions that financial or political considerations played a part in the decision making process, are both highly offensive and entirely false...,” Bevin wrote on Twitter last week. “To repeat such uncorroborated rumors and lies is reprehensible.”
A complicated timeline
Of more than a dozen clemency petitions examined by the Herald-Leader, Phelps’ file is the only one that does not contain letters, aside from Sasser’s note, from family members or members of the community explaining why he should be pardoned.
Also missing were any records from the court case, or of Phelps’ time in prison.
“It was lacking in the entirety of the case,” Steele said. “And much like people tend to do, they tend to point to one or two things that shows their side.”
Phelps pleaded guilty in 2013 to possession of materials portraying a sexual performance by a minor and tampering with a witness. The guilty plea came more than a year after a grand jury indicted Phelps on three counts of sexual abuse of a minor and two counts of unlawful transactions, for allegedly having sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl and her 17-year-old cousin and for buying alcohol for both of them in November 2011, according to The Sentinel Echo in London.
Four of those charges were dropped after the 14 year old recanted her statement, but the charge alleging sexual abuse of the 17 year old remained. As police were investigating the fifth charge, they found nude photos on Phelps’ phone. He then reached a plea agreement instead of standing trial.
The packet included a timeline that raised questions about the charges against Phelps and his guilty plea. The timeline of events said the 14-year-old victim only made her claims after he, the director of pupil personnel in the Laurel County school system, filed truancy paperwork on the victim.
Steele challenged that version of events, saying he did not believe the family was trying to take advantage of Phelps.
The timeline indicates when Phelps was fired by the school board, when he was indicted, and ends with the date Phelps took a plea deal, saying he was advised that he could either “plea in state court or face federal prosecution.”
Steele said the timeline left out key details, including the fact that Phelps paid the 17-year-old girl to go to North Carolina for “maybe a month” to keep her from attending his scheduled trial. That resulted in the charge of tampering with a witness.
That charge was not addressed anywhere in the petition.
Regarding the child pornography charge, Phelps said in his petition that he received an unsolicited naked photograph from the original victim, who was “16 years of age at this point,” in June or July of 2013 and immediately deleted it from his phone.
Steele contested that version of events.
“That evidence would have been different than Mr. Phelps’ version should it have gone to trial,” Steele said.
He said there was more than one picture on the phone and that it was opened multiple times.
Steele said Bevin never contacted him to ask about the Phelps case.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 3:16 PM.
