Man who threatened Corbin Code officials turns himself into police

A Corbin man that allegedly threatened city officials after being fined $2,250 by the town’s code enforcement board turned himself in to police yesterday and was almost immediately released from custody after posting a $5,000 fully secured bond.

Rondal Keith Jervis, the man who is in the center of a debate with Corbin’s Code Enforcement Board, turned himself in less than a week after an arrest warrant was issued for his arrest. Jervis is accused of terroristic threatening in reaction to the fine he was issued following a Sept. 9 meeting of the code enforcement board.

Jervis allegedly phoned Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird Tuesday and Bird said he encouraged Jervis to turn himself in.

"I told him that would be the best thing for him to do," Bird said.

Upon turning himself in, Jervis was immediately taken to court by Bird where he was released on a bond instead of being processed as usual.

"This was not the normal protocol for this situation, but it was an instance where court was in session and the judge was there with a small docket," Bird said. "Instead of processing him, we just took him to court and handled it that way."

According to the arrest warrant, Jervis placed a telephone call to Code Enforcement Director Frank Burke’s office, and made threats to Burke’s secretary Clara Patterson, that were deemed likely to result in serious physical injury to another person, which is in violation of KRS 508.080.

Burke said he has never had a case come to this. He says Jervis made a threatening phone call to city hall Wednesday.

"Some of the statements he made were interpreted as direct threats, not just to me, but for anyone involved in the case," says Corbin Code Enforcement Officer Frank Burke.

Jervis was initially cited and appeared before the Board for a public hearing in May and was fined $100 and ordered to correct the violations. A seperate charge regarding housing junk cars on the property, at the time, was dismissed by the board.

Jervis was issued a second citation on August 18 for violating property maintenance, sanitation, rubbish and junk vehicle codes, requested a public hearing before the board but never showed.

Code Enforcement Board Chairman Trent Knuckles said the board normally only fines individuals cited a set amount for each citation, but asked the board to depart from that practice because of Jervis’ "unwillingness to comply with the city’s property maintenance laws."

At the time, board members Joe "Butch" White and Kyle Jones agreed, fining Jervis the maximum amount for each violation, $750, for a total of $2,250.

"Mr. Jervis has indicated he does not intend to correct these problems," Knuckles said. "The fact that he did not appear at the public hearing he requested of this board is troubling. This is an unusual case that I think justifies the increased penalties."
Since then, Jervis has reportedly threatened to decorate his property in a manner that would not be pleasing to city officials, with brightly colored fencing and the possibility of toilet bowl flower pots.

Burke said he expects Jervis to pay all fines levied against him and correct the problems. He said the city would file a lien for the fines, and all administrative costs, against the property if they are unpaid. The city can then petition the courts to sell the property to satisfy any liens.

Burke added that the city is mulling seeking an injunction against Jervis so that it may go onto his property and force cleanup.
Jervis refused to give the News Journal any comments regarding the case.