New York - A former
Kentucky campaign official for President Donald Trump is due in
court on Friday after being charged with human trafficking in
the US 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.
@sebastienmalo