The 70-year-old was appointed to chair Trump’s electoral campaign in Kentucky’s Campbell County last year
By Sebastien Malo
NEW YORK – (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A former Kentucky campaign official for President Donald Trump is due in court on Friday after being charged with human trafficking in the U.S. southern state.
Timothy Nolan, a retired district court judge, was arrested last month and charged with forcing a minor to engage in commercial sex around August 2016.
He is also charged with inducing a minor to engage in sexual activity and giving alcohol to a minor, according to the complaint.
Nolan’s defense attorney said he denied all the charges.
The 70-year-old was appointed to chair Trump’s electoral campaign in Kentucky’s Campbell County last year, according to court documents in an unrelated civil suit in which he was the plaintiff.
He was also involved in choosing local delegates tasked with casting votes at the July 2016 Republican presidential primary from which Trump emerged as the party’s nominee, according to the same documents.
At his arraignment in mid-April Nolan was ordered to wear an ankle-monitoring device and not to have contact with the alleged victims, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear, whose office is prosecuting the case, said in a press release.
Nolan, now a boxing promoter, is listed as sitting on a Kentucky school board, according to the board’s website.
He will appear in Kentucky’s Boone District Court on Friday for a preliminary hearing.
If convicted, Nolan faces a maximum 20 years for the human trafficking charge, according to a Kentucky Department of Corrections spokeswoman.
In the United States, sex trafficking is defined as commercial sex induced by force, fraud or coercion, or involving a minor under the age of 18.
(Reporting by Sebastien Malo @sebastienmalo. Editing by Emma Batha.; Credit: the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org)
ADDITIONAL Reporting
Timothy Nolan, 70, of California, KY, was indicted on the following charges on Thursday:
-1 count human trafficking with a person under age 18 (felony)
-1 count rape (felony)
-5 counts of human trafficking with adults (felony)
-1 count of unlawful transaction with a minor (felony)
-1 count tampering with a witness (felony)
-1 count of third degree unlawful transaction with a minor (misdemeanor)
-1 count of prostitution (misdemeanor)
Timothy Nolan has resigned from his position on the Campbell County School Board. In a statement issued by Nolan’s Attorney the reasons behind his resignation include “Citing to concerns that the baseless and setup charges brought against him today are distracting from the board’s important business.”
“Mr. Nolan is furthermore concerned about the effects that the outrageous charges are having on his family members, who are also dedicated public servants and professionals living and working in the Northern Kentucky region.”
“Mr. Nolan wishes to express his admiration for the dedication shown by his fellow Board members and the school district’s administrators, as well as his strong support for their work on improving the operations of the school district and achieving the highest educational standards.”
The Campbell County Schools issued this press release:
“Late this afternoon, Mr. Tim Nolan formally tendered his resignation from the Campbell County Board of Education, effectively immediately. Per statute, the Campbell County Board of Education will forward his resignation to the Kentucky Commissioner of Education, Dr. Stephen Pruitt, who will be responsible for appointing a replacement at a later time”.
