Former Kentucky legislator Robert Goforth sentenced to 2 years of prison in fraud case

Former Kentucky state legislator Robert Goforth was sentenced Monday to 25 months in prison, following his guilty plea in May to federal charges of health care fraud and money laundering at the pharmacy he owned.

A spokesperson for U.S. prosecutors in Kentucky's Eastern District indicated the former Republican legislator's sentence includes two years of supervised release as well, in addition to orders to pay a $10,000 fine and $2.7 million in restitution.

In his guilty plea, Goforth admitted to improperly billing insurance programs in excess of $2.7 million for prescriptions that customers never picked up, then multiplying profits by putting those medications back on the shelf and selling them again.

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An attorney for Goforth stated earlier this summer that he expected his client to receive a sentence that ranged from 24 to 37 months.

Monday's federal sentencing comes a few months after Goforth also pled guilty to a fourth-degree domestic violence charge and received a 59-day sentence, which stemmed from his April 2020 arrest.

Goforth was initially charged with first-degree strangulation and domestic assault, as a police citation stated that his wife told authorities he strangled her with a cord "to the point that she had difficulty breathing and believed she was going to pass out."

Despite the domestic violence arrest, the East Bernstadt Republican easily won reelection that fall to his second term in the state House, defeating his Democratic opponent with 71% of the vote.

A petition was submitted by citizens in 2021 to impeach Goforth and remove him from office due to his domestic violence charges, but a special impeachment committee of lawmakers declined to forward the charges to the full legislative chamber.

Goforth abruptly resigned from his seat in the state House in August 2021, ​stating that "family and personal circumstances demand my full attention and focus."

The former legislator also agreed earlier this year to pay fines totaling $22,000 for campaign finance and ethics violations relating to his 2020 campaign.

First elected to his state House seat in 2018, Goforth had a surprisingly strong showing in his long-shot bid for governor in 2019, coming within 13 percentage points of then-incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin in the Republican primary.

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Ex-Kentucky legislator Robert Goforth sentenced to 2 years in prison