There is no cure for pedophilia, and any sentence less than life imprisonment simply means that a convicted pedophile will offend again.

Previous offender charged with dozens of sex crime offenses in Lexington, records show

by Christopher Leach | Thursday, August 4, 2022 | 8:24 AM EDT

William Wehking, photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

A registered sex offender in Lexington was booked into the Fayette County Detention Center Wednesday afternoon on dozens of charges related to sexual activity with a minor, according to court and jail records.William Wehking, 35, has been charged with 25 counts of possessing matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor and one count of distributing obscene matter to minors, use of a minor in a sexual performance and procuring or promoting the use of a minor in a sexual performance, according to jail records. He’s being held on a $50,000 bond.

Under the McClatchy Mugshot Policy, what my best friend used to call the Lexington Herald-Liberal did not publish the suspect’s mugshot, but, at The First Street Journal we most certainly do. The suspect’s mugshot is a public record available from the Fayette County Detention Center, from which I obtained it.

According to his arrest citation, Wehking knowingly engaged in sexual conversations with a 12-year-old girl. The Lexington Police Department became aware of the activity after being tipped off by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois, where the victim resides.

Wehking and the victim communicated over Snapchat and text messaging, according to court documents. Investigators got a search warrant for his cell phone and found 25 images and/or videos of minors under the age of 12 engaging in sexual activity. Wehking admitted to the illegal behavior as well as exposing his genitals to the victim in a video chat, according court documents.

Read more here.

Mr Wehking was already on the sex offender registry, non-compliantly due to an unverified address, for a conviction for sexual abuse in Illinois; that victim was 16 years old.

According to the suspect data from the Fayette County Detention Center, the 5’8″, 257 lb Mr Wehking is charged with

• KRS §531.335 Possession or viewing of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor under 12 years of age, 25 counts, a Class C felony
• KRS §531.030 Distribution of obscene matter to minors, first offense, 1 count, a Class A misdemeanor
• KRS §531.320 Promoting a sexual performance by a minor, 1 count, a Class B felony
• KRS §531.310 Use of a minor in a sexual performance, 1 count, a Class B felony

Under KRS §532.060:

• the sentence for a Class B felony is not less than ten (10) years nor more than twenty (20) years imprisonment
• the sentence for a Class C felony is not less than five (5) years nor more than ten (10) years imprisonment

Under KRS §532.090:

• the sentence for a Class A misdemeanor is imprisonment for a term not to exceed twelve (12) months.

According to my precise calculations, the distinguished Mr Wehking is facing up to 291 years in the state penitentiary, and, if convicted on all counts, that’s exactly the sentence he should receive. Lock him up, and throw away the key!

Of course, that’s unlikely to happen, isn’t it? If convicted on all charges, Mr Wehking could get as little as 10 years in prison, the minimum of the Class B felonies, and be sentenced to have all sentences run concurrently rather than consecutively. The Herald-Leader noted how Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn has been using “mediation” to secure plea bargains:

From murder to manslaughter: How felony mediation works to reduce backlogged caseload

By Taylor Six | July 18, 2022 | 1:00 PM EDT

While the resolution of some recent Fayette County homicide cases has taken years, the new use of mediation in Fayette County has allowed some cases to move much quicker, including the case of a 27-year-old man who has admitted guilt in a deadly shooting that happened just over one year ago.

Danzell Cruse was originally charged with murder, possessing a handgun as a convicted felon and being a persistent felony offender following the shooting of 38-year-old Jocko Green in a parking lot outside of an apartment complex in July 2021.

After Cruse’s defense and prosecutors came together to mediate the case with a retired judge, Cruse pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter. He will be sentenced in August.

Felony mediations were only recently introduced and encouraged in Fayette County in April 2021 by Kentucky Supreme Court Judge John Minton, in efforts to reduce a backlog in criminal cases caused by COVID-19. The pandemic significantly slowed down the progress on the courts system.

Since that time, Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn said there have been 25 mediations, 19 of which involved murder charges.

Under KRS §507.020, murder is a capital offense. Under KRS §532.030, the sentence for a capital offense is either:

• death
• imprisonment for life without benefit of probation or parole
• imprisonment for life without benefit of probation or parole until he has served a minimum of twenty-five (25) years of his sentence
• imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty (20) years nor more than fifty (50) years

Simply put, the Commonwealth’s Attorney could have put those 19 killers away for the rest of their miserable lives, or until they were so elderly that they were little risk to society if they ever got out.

• KRS §507.030 Manslaughter in the first degree is a Class B felony, which, as noted above, carries a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison.
• KRS §507.040 Manslaughter in the second degree is a Class C felony, the sentence for which is 5 to 10 years behind bars.

In other words, the Commonwealth’s Attorney negotiated plea bargains which sets the maximum sentence at what the absolute minimum sentence for murder would be. But those murderers manslaughterers weren’t usually getting that twenty year maximum sentence:

• James Ragland III was charged with murder for the killing of Iesha Edwards outside a city strip club, but was allowed to plead down to manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in prison. Mr Ragland will be back on the streets when he is just 38 years old, while Miss Edwards will still be dead.
• Malachi Jackson was charged with murder for the killing of 15-year-old Kevin Olmeda, but was allowed to plead down to first degree manslaughter, for which the Commonwealth’s Attorney recommended a sentence of 15 years in prison, and which was accepted. Some consecutive sentencing on other charges means that Mr Jackson’s maximum release date would be May 26, 2043, when he would be 41 years old, but his anticipated release date is December 16, 2039, when he will be 37 years old. And he will be eligible for parole as early as February 26, 2031, when he will be just 29 years old!
• Jemel Barber was charged with murder for killing 40-year-old Tyrese Clark, but was allowed to plead down to manslaughter and sentenced to twenty years in the big house. He has a minimum expiration of sentence date of February 2, 2035, and maximum of July 1, 2037, but will first be eligible for parole on April 1, 2030, when he will be just 31 years old.
• Xavier Hardin was charged with murder for the killing of Kenneth Bottom Jr, a killing caught on a security camera, which ought to be open-and-shut for the Commonwealth’s Attorney, but no, she “mediated” down a plea to first degree manslaughter, for which he received a sentence of ten years, plus two consecutive sentences fore other crimes, but will still be eligible for parole on February 16, 2029, when he will be just 28 years old.

There are more such examples, but the point is obvious: if Miss Red Corn is willing to let murderers plead down to manslaughter, and have a chance to get out of prison while still relatively young, can we really expect her to treat Mr Wehking seriously? And if Mr Wehking is allowed to plead down and get a light sentence, can we hold Miss Red Corn accountable if he reoffends?