Weddle sued for doxxing Bevin-pardoned critic, wrongful termination of policeman
Two new lawsuits against embattled London Mayor Randall Weddle accuse him of doxxing a former Laurel County school administrator pardoned of a child porn conviction and firing a police officer who had publicly signaled no confidence in the city’s police chief.
Weddle, who was impeached by the city council for official misconduct and later reinstated by a Laurel County special judge in October, has been embroiled in controversy since he took office in early 2023 and locked in an ongoing public spat with many of his administration’s fiercest critics, whom he has labeled a “pedo clan.”
Both lawsuits, filed by former Laurel County Public Schools Director of Pupil Personnel Charles Douglas “Doug” Phelps and former London Police Sgt. Jacob Bormann, paint Weddle as a vindictive mayoral candidate who later used the power he secured in the 2022 General Election to go after his political foes.
The suits add to the growing legal scrutiny the mayor faces.
The lawsuits also depict City Attorney Larry Bryson as working behind the scenes leading up to and after the election to steer the levers of government in Weddle’s favor, allegedly ordering city officials to meet with the then-candidate for mayor and using outside legal clients to secure damaging information about his critics.
Bryson was terminated shortly after Weddle’s impeachment and promptly rehired after the mayor was reinstated.
“Whether you believe he does a good job or you believe City Council is in the wrong, I think we all agree that no one should be overstepping or abusing authority to harm people,” Brandon Voelker, attorney for both plaintiffs, told the Herald-Leader.
The lawsuits are the latest chapter in a long history of litigation directed by and against Weddle as well as other controversies. Last year, he filed a lawsuit against residents over their negative comments about him on Facebook; that suit was dismissed.
Weddle was the subject of a lawsuit filed by another London police officer in August, alleging defamation.
A logistics entrepreneur by trade, the London mayor has also been the subject of an investigation into his role as a key donor aiding Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in his bid for reelection in 2023.
More than $200,000 in contributions to Beshear’s campaign and the Democratic Governors Association were returned to Weddle because they were made on a credit card belonging to Weddle and his wife, but in other people’s names. Weddle self-reported the issue, according to the Beshear campaign.
Republican lawmakers with deep involvement in state transportation funding questioned why a $1.1 million state road project benefiting Weddle’s business was moved up to be constructed ahead of schedule. Beshear administration officials said the move was a prudent cost-saving measure and stated that the allegations of a conflict were “baseless.”
Phelps’ first dispute with Weddle came when he filed a complaint to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance centering around conduct during Weddle’s successful 2022 mayoral campaign. Three months before his victory, Weddle sponsored a free gasoline giveaway for area residents.
Weddle’s office has not returned a request for comment on the recent lawsuits.
‘Doug’ Phelps Lawsuit
According to a civil suit filed Nov. 10 in Laurel Circuit Court, Weddle and other city officials disseminated anonymous mailers in December 2022 to thousands of Laurel County residents that contained personally identifying information belonging to Phelps and others who were allegedly critical of Weddle’s campaign.
Phelps pleaded guilty to child porn and witness tampering charges in 2013 but was later pardoned by Matt Bevin following a brief clemency petition that highlighted his family’s “staunch” support for the former Republican governor.
In his lawsuit, Phelps claims Weddle included his and others’ Social Security numbers and dates of birth in mailers that were purportedly from “Saveachild.org” and featured the Save Kentucky Children logo.
Phelps also accuses Bryson of abusing his power while acting as the city attorney and attorney for the Laurel County Board of Education. An email exchange between Bryson and the district’s former Superintendent Douglas Bennet features the subject line “Doug Phelps info,” according to an exhibit accompanying Phelps’ complaint.
Only the school district and city of London were in possession of the sensitive information before the mailers were sent, the suit claims.
The Phelps family has also been at the center of a feud with the mayor over the way his administration handled the 2024 police shooting of a man whose house misidentified during the service of a search warrant. At a news conference in February, Weddle claimed Doug Phelps and his twin brothers, John and James Phelps, who are both retired Kentucky State troopers, plus another local man, Elijah Jarvis, are part of a “corrupt system” he claims is “controlled by a pedo clan.”
Weddle was then a guest on a since-deleted episode of the podcast “True Crimecast,” where he accused the Phelps brothers and Jarvis of crimes including sex trafficking, drug dealing and murder, according to a defamation lawsuit filed Feb. 14 by the brothers.
John and James Phelps have never been charged with any of those crimes, court records show. Jarvis, who has filed a similar civil lawsuit, has also not been charged with any of those crimes.
The Doug Phelps lawsuit accuses Weddle and his longtime confidant, personal attorney and media consultant Jeremy Bryant of cooking up the February news conference and marketing it using social media entities such as “The Kentucky Daily” and “Laurel County News +,” both of which are organized and run by Bryant. During the press conference, Weddle and Bryant showed and handed out packets of documentation that also contained personal identifiable information.
Phelps’ lawsuit accuses Weddle, Bennett, Bryant, Bryson, City Council member Holly Little and the city of London of civil conspiracy for negligence and invasion of privacy. Weddle, Bryson, Little and Bryant are also accused of negligence per se.
Jacob Bormann Lawsuit
A second lawsuit filed Nov. 7 claims Weddle wrongfully terminated Bormann, a former sergeant with the London Police Department K-9 unit, without providing him due process.
Bormann was one of a few officers who was chosen to sign a letter of no confidence in former Police Chief Darrel Kilburn at the urging of then-Mayor Troy Rudder in 2022.
After that letter was signed, Rudder encouraged Kilburn to retire, which he did June 30, 2022.
Around that same time, the lawsuit alleges, Bryson, the city attorney, directed then-city clerk Marcy Berry to begin meeting and sharing information with Weddle, who was still just a candidate for mayor.
According to the lawsuit, Weddle specifically asked Berry “who she was having a relationship with,” after Bryson divulged Berry and Bormann were in a romantic relationship. Weddle made reference to that relationship “during repeated meetings,” the lawsuit claims.
One of Weddle’s first acts as mayor was to fire Bormann and other sergeants who signed the no-confidence letter about Kilburn. Weddle then allegedly remarked he had removed the problems at the police department and said “mutinies would not be tolerated,” according to the lawsuit.
Bormann accuses Weddle of defaming him and violating his rights to due process.
“Police officers have rights in our state. We constantly talk about the shortage of good, quality police officers. Well, you’ve got somebody here (Weddle) who is just kind of going rogue, not applying laws that are there to protect good officers and just unilaterally terminating them. That’s the gist of this lawsuit,” Voelker said.
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
