LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A former Kentucky police officer who admitted to sexually abusing minors involved in the department’s now defunct youth program has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison.
News outlets report Kenneth Betts asked the judge for mercy during the sentencing hearing Tuesday.
U.S. District Court Judge David Hale had rejected a plea agreement in May that would’ve sentenced Betts to 15 years in prison. Hale said the deal was too lenient and federal guidelines call for a 27-year sentence. Hale accepted a revised plea agreement proposing 15 to 20 years and handed down the 16-year sentence Tuesday.
Betts’s prison sentence is to be followed by 20 years of supervised release. He’s ordered to pay a $5,000 special assessment and $20,000 in restitution with regard to one of the victims.
