BATAVIA, Ohio — A former Hamilton County judge and prosecutor who now works as an attorney has been charged after authorities said he used his legal credentials to arrange sexual contact with an inmate at the Clermont County Jail, according to the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office.
James Kenney, 75, was taken into custody Monday without incident and booked into the jail, where he is being held without bond, the sheriff’s office said. He is accused of one count each of engaging in prostitution, obstructing official business and solicitation, all misdemeanors.
The charges stem from a broader investigation into contraband smuggling at the jail that began Aug. 15, when corrections staff reported seeing inmates passing items to one another during recreation, according to the sheriff’s office. Staff secured the inmates involved and searched cells in the affected housing block, and two jail canines were used to search the rest of the facility. The searches turned up tobacco products, which are barred from the jail, the sheriff’s office said.
As detectives interviewed inmates and reviewed jail phone records, they identified communications between Kenney and an inmate connected to the contraband investigation, according to the sheriff’s office. Investigators said the conversations included sexual content and raised concerns about a contact visit Kenney had with the inmate.
Detectives obtained and executed a search warrant for Kenney’s cellphone. During a subsequent interview, Kenney admitted to using his professional credentials as an attorney to arrange a contact visit with an inmate he was not representing, telling detectives the inmate was instead a personal associate, according to the sheriff’s office. He acknowledged that during an Aug. 4 contact visit at the jail, he and the inmate engaged in sexual activity, the sheriff’s office said.
Kenney is scheduled to appear before Judge Katherine Terpstra at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The sheriff’s office said the investigation remains active and ongoing, and that additional people are expected to be charged as it continues.
Suspects are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office.