An elected prosecutor in Eastern Kentucky exchanged Facebook messages with a defendant promising to help her with her criminal cases in exchange for nude photos and videos.
Ronnie Goldy is the commonwealth’s attorney for Bath, Menifee, Montgomery, and Rowan counties. He was elected in 2012 and 2018 and will be up for reelection in 2024.
In 230 pages of messages from 2018 to 2020 obtained by The Courier-Journal, Goldy told Misty Helton that if she sent him the nude images, he would talk to judges about continuing her cases and setting aside warrants. The Facebook messages surfaced in an unrelated criminal case against a former judge Beth Maze.
In a brief interview, Goldy, who was first elected in 2012, denied he did favors for Helton but declined to offer any explanation for the messages.
Copies of the messages were provided to The Courier-Journal by Louisville attorney Thomas Clay, who represents former judge Beth Maze, who served on the bench for 18 years in the same four counties where Goldy is the prosecutor. Goldy is slated to testify against Maze in an upcoming criminal trial.
Clay also said he has turned over the messages to the FBI because he believes Goldy's conduct would violate federal law. An FBI spokeswoman told The Courier-Journal that Justice Department rules don't allow her to confirm or deny an investigation.