NKY attorney gets sentenced in human trafficking case
Correction: A prior version of this story incorrectly stated the Robert Poole's sentence.
Robert Poole, a longtime Northern Kentucky lawyer, was sentenced probation, ordered to pay $40,000 and ordered to stay away from the nine different victims in his case.
Poole, 53, pleaded guilty to five felony counts of promoting human trafficking in October.
In a press release Friday, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Poole was sentenced to five years probation with the possibility of an eight year sentence if he fails to meet the condition of his probation.
The investigation into Poole stemmed from another case involving former Northern Kentucky Judge Tim Nolan. Nolan was sentences to 20 years in prison in 2018.
Both Nolan and Poole gained notoriety outside of the courtroom for being active in conservative politics in the region. Nolan was a prominent campaigner for former president Donald Trump.
In the course of Poole's case, his attorney's argued that the human trafficking statute in Kentucky does not apply to their client and is overly broad.
Their attempts to prove this point may shed light on how Poole viewed what he was doing:
"Historically, a man 'kept' a mistress. As the term impolies he was responsible for her debts and provided for her," Poole's lawyers wrote. "[Kentucky's human trafficking law] would regard these mistresses as person subjected to commercial sexual activity and as victims."
They also argued women in loveless marriages would also be considered victims under the law.
"Under any possible circumstance, a man in the wealthier class always has, at a minimum, financial power, over a woman who barely has the finances to live month-to-month," the lawyers wrote arguing that the law would wrong classify this unequal power as "force or coercion."
They said the state is using the human trafficking law as a tool to "create a class system" in which people in one class cannot have sexual relationship with people in other classes.
The argument went on to say the law would prevent a man from hoping to "score" on a first date if he buys the woman dinner and gifts.
"The Commonwealth would say that the woman was manipulated because they were on unequal footing," the lawyer said.
The prosecution stated the statute as it is written clearly does not even encompass "consensual commercial sexual relationships among adults" and the judge rejected Poole's stance.
As part of the Poole sentence handed down in Kenton County Circuit Court Friday, a 10-year protective order was put in place for the victims and Poole must pay $40,000 to the Human Trafficking Victims Fund.
Poole has another human trafficking case open against him in Boone County. He has pleaded guilty to two charges in that case as well and will be sentenced on those charges Jan. 6.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: NKY attorney sentenced in human trafficking case
