Former Laurel County school employee gets pardon

A former employee with Laurel County Public Schools, who was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography and tampering with a witness, received a pardon from outgoing Gov. Matt Bevin.

Charles “Doug” Phelps, who served as the school system’s director of pupil personnel, pleaded guilty to charges of possession of matter portraying sexual performance by a minor, and tampering with a witness on Nov. 1, 2013 in Laurel Circuit Court.

“This conviction resulted from a process long in duration, long on accusation, long on drama and short on evidence,” Bevin wrote in the pardon issued Dec. 9. “It was sloppy at best.”

Phelps was initially indicted on three counts of sexual abuse charges in Jan. 2013.

According to the indictment, two of those charges involved a 14-year-old, while the remaining charge centered on a then 17-year-old.

The charges involving the 14-year-old were later dismissed at the request of the commonwealth’s attorney when the alleged victim’s statements were found to be inconsistent.

The other charge remained. However, Commonwealth’s Attorney Jackie Steele said it was held in abeyance while awaiting a ruling by the Kentucky Supreme Court on a similar case.

“That case dealt with the question of whether or not sexual contact similar to this case met the definition of sexual abuse,” Steele said. “It was directly on point with this case.”

The Supreme Court issued its ruling in May and the case was placed back on the docket.

The witness tampering indictment was returned in Oct. 2013.

According to the indictment, at some time between Aug. 1 and Oct. 9, Phelps allegedly tried to induce the witness, identified as, “C.E.” not to appear when he goes to trial on one count of first-degree sexual abuse. In addition, Phelps is accused of offering to pay C.E. an undisclosed sum of money to influence her testimony.

Phelps had been scheduled to go to trial Oct. 8 on one count of first-degree sexual abuse. However, the trial was continued when the alleged victim failed to appear after Phelps allegedly had multiple contacts with her.

The indictment was the result of an investigation by Kentucky State Police Detective Tracy Haynes, who presented the case to a Laurel County grand jury.

At the sentencing hearing, Phelps attorney pointed to his steady work history, close family relationship and community involvement in asking that his client be sentenced to probation.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Jackie Steele countered that the charges to which Phelps pleaded guilty, stemming from two separate indictments.

Following the arguments, Special Judge Henry Johnson followed the recommendations of the plea agreement in sentencing Phelps to two years for the child pornography charge and one year for the witness tampering. The sentences were to run consecutively for a total of three years.