US agency sues a Kentucky limo service for failure to pay harassment victims $95K
A Kentucky-based luxury limousine and corporate travel service, which had been the repeat target of workplace sexual harassment complaints, failed to hold up its end of a $95,000 settlement with the federal government last year to compensate alleged victims, according to a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit.
The EEOC sued London-based JACO Enterprises LLC last month for breaching a conciliation agreement the company’s president, Todd Roberts, signed in October. Now, authorities want a federal court to force the company to pay the settled amount, plus interest and court fees, as “debt owed to the United States of America relating to willful and malicious injury to others.”
Roberts, who also operates a private bourbon tour company and a police, fire, medical and tactical equipment store in London, serves on the London Tourism and Convention Commission. A onetime assistant police chief in Clay County, Roberts served four years in federal prison for his role in a widespread conspiracy to fix local elections, buy votes and bribe officials in Manchester from 2002 to 2006.
JACO, which has offices in Lexington, Louisville, Cincinnati, Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee, likely violated federal anti-discrimination law by failing to remedy the alleged sexual harassment for one woman who filed charges with the EEOC and a class of female co-workers who were similarly affected, the government said.
One woman said she had been the subject of sexual harassment and unwanted touching by a male co-worker in January 2024, according to the conciliation agreement the company signed on Oct. 6. Complaints against the company dated back three years, EEOC records show.
The company, which has at least 15 employees, disputed the allegations last year but entered into the voluntary conciliation agreement to pay the original complainant $70,000 and other alleged female victims $25,000 total.
Company leadership also agreed to provide employee training and establish sexual harassment policies and reporting procedures. The EEOC said it required the company to post a notice to all employees about the resolution of the woman’s charge and their rights under federal anti-discrimination law.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes sexual harassment.
“JACO’s failure to pay as required under the agreement constitutes the breach of a binding contract,” said Kenneth Bird, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Indianapolis District in a statement “In the interests of the harmed parties and the public, the EEOC will vigorously enforce terms of the conciliation agreements that it enters into with employers.”
It’s still unclear whether the company provided training, required notices or established policies and reporting procedures as laid out in the agreement, but the EEOC said it would monitor the company for compliance for three years.
EEOC conciliation agreements are binding, voluntary settlements between an employer and the commission to resolve workplace discrimination without the time and expense of a federal lawsuit. They are offered after the independent federal agency has already investigated a charge and determined there was “reasonable cause” to believe a law was violated.
The agency is required to attempt to settle employer disputes before it can file a lawsuit.
JACO president tied to 2006 Clay County corruption scheme
Roberts was appointed to one of two tourism commissions in Laurel County in 2023 by then-Mayor Randall Weddle, who resigned this week after an appeals court upheld his 2025 removal by the city council.
A longtime supporter of London, Roberts has been known to represent the city tourism commission at public events. He owns land in the city as well as two condominiums in Lexington, according to property valuation administrator records in Laurel and Fayette counties.
The head of the tourism commission, Chris Robinson, didn’t immediately respond to a Herald-Leader request for comment Tuesday.
In 2006, Roberts and several other former Manchester city officials were indicted by a federal grand jury on drug conspiracy, theft and federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, charges, stemming from a multi-year FBI investigation into local government corruption in Clay County.
As assistant police chief, Roberts joined a city councilman and head of the city-county 911 system at the time in shielding a drug dealer from charges after the pair convinced the man to burn down a vacant house in 1999, according to court records. The house sat on property where the city wanted to build its new police station and 911 center and whose owner had refused to sell. He later lied to federal investigators about the scheme.
Roberts was initially named in a multimillion-dollar indictment charging several Manchester city officials with conspiracy to distribute drugs and stealing government funds. The government later dropped those charges after Roberts pleaded guilty to racketeering in the arson cover-up investigation.
A year later, he was sentenced to more than seven years in prison, three years of supervised release plus assessment and restitution fines. In 2010, his sentence was amended to just over three years in federal custody and three years of supervised release, plus the fines.
He was released from U.S. Bureau of Prisons custody as of February 2011, according to federal records.
Roberts is also the registered agent of a wedding venue and luxury transportation company in London, according to Kentucky Secretary of State business records. He didn’t immediately respond to multiple Herald-Leader requests for comment Tuesday.
This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 1:39 PM.
