Kentucky deputy sheriff sexually attacked woman while on duty, lawsuit alleges
A Kentucky sheriff’s deputy threatened to disclose sensitive information that could have hurt people in order to force a woman to have sex with him, according to a federal lawsuit filed earlier this week.
The complaint against the deputy, Joshua Kitchen, charges that his conduct violated the woman’s rights and constituted rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, sexual misconduct and official misconduct.
Kitchen has not been criminally charged.
The lawsuit also alleges that Sheriff Jeff May failed to properly train and oversee Kitchen, didn’t properly investigate the alleged assault when he first learned of it, and initially refused to ask another agency to investigate.
The lawsuit is against Kitchen, May and Carter County. The Herald-Leader does not name alleged victims of sexual crimes.
May did not return a request for comment on the complaint. Efforts to reach Kitchen were not successful. May’s office said Kitchen is no longer a deputy.
According to the complaint, Kitchen met the woman in October 2020 while investigating an incident involving one of her family members.
Kitchen learned information in that case that would have endangered people close to the woman if it became public, the lawsuit said.
Kitchen used his position to get the woman’s address and telephone number and allegedly began sending her sexually explicit messages by phone and over social media. He also demanded that she take part in sexually explicit communications with him, the lawsuit alleged.
Kitchen kept sending the woman harassing communications for months, leaving her in “constant fear” for her safety and the safety of her children and the people subject to the information Kitchen had, the lawsuit said.
The complaint did not describe the information the deputy had.
In February 2021, Kitchen went to the woman’s house while on duty and demanded that she pose in specific ways and let him take photos, the lawsuit alleged.
Later that month, Kitchen allegedly told the woman he was on the way to her house again and demanded that she be alone. He arrived in his police cruiser, in uniform and with his gun, the lawsuit said.
Kitchen clinched the woman’s hair in his fist and twisted until she couldn’t freely move, then forcibly took off her pants and sexually abused her, the lawsuit alleged.
During the attack, the woman could feel Kitchen’s gun hitting her thigh, the complaint said.
“Kitchen subjected (the victim) to sexual intercourse through intimidation, coercion, duress, and implied threat of physical harm to her and others,” the lawsuit said.
The woman did not consent to have sex with Kitchen.
After the attack, Kitchen threatened to disclose the sensitive information he had if the woman reported him, according to the lawsuit.
The next month, the woman’s boyfriend told Sheriff May that Kitchen had sexually assaulted the woman.
May told the man he was aware of the allegation and that he would investigate. Later, May told the boyfriend that he had given Kitchen a written reprimand and contacted the Kentucky Attorney General’s office to investigate.
However, the Attorney General’s office told the boyfriend it had no record of such a request, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit claimed that May only referred the matter to Kentucky State Police after one of the woman’s attorneys, Brandon T. Hamilton, sent May a letter about the allegations. Hamilton represents the woman with Aaron Bentley, an attorney in Prospect.
There is reason to believe the county and May knew that Kitchen had taken part in similar conduct before the alleged attack on the woman, or conduct that posed an unreasonable risk to citizens in similar situations, but hired him anyway and failed to properly train and supervise him, the lawsuit charged.
The county also failed to properly train and supervise the sheriff, Kitchen and other employees of the office in preventing, spotting and responding to misconduct by a deputy, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money to compensate the woman and punish the defendants.
