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| Former Ky. Juvenile Justice Head Says He is Innocent, Will Fight Charges of Sexual Abuse |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/30/2002 |
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Ralph E. Kelly, who was forced to resign September 25 as head of the state's Department of Juvenile Justice after being charged in New York with sexual abuse, said he is innocent and expects to be cleared of the charges. Kelly, 65, was in New York over the weekend to attend a neighborhood reunion in Brooklyn, where he grew up, and Saturday's University of Louisville-Army football game. His accuser is one of two 21-year-old men who accompanied him on the trip. Kelly acknowledged in an interview that the case against him will come down to his word against that of his accuser. Kelly was forced to resign after Justice Secretary Ishmon Burks Jr. learned of the charges, which were brought Tuesday. Kelly, who made $91,000 a year, was charged with third-degree sexual abuse and forcible touching, two misdemeanors, according to the New York district attorney's office. Burks, speaking through a Justice Cabinet spokeswoman, said the nature of the allegations compelled him to demand Kelly's resignation. ''I based my decision on the seriousness and the gravity of those charges,'' Burks said. Kelly said Thursday that he made the trip with a family friend and the friend's roommate, both students at the University of Kentucky. They left for the trip last Thursday. Kelly declined to identify the men, but he said his accuser is the family friend's roommate. He said he knows the family friend through the young man's parents, who once lived in Kentucky but moved to Florida. Kelly, who is married, said the man became ''almost part of the family'' after his parents moved. According to the charges, the victim told police that Kelly grabbed his genitals and rubbed them. Kelly said that the charges are ''ludicrous, absurd and simply not true'' and that he intends to fight them. He said he doesn't know why the man would accuse him but, in a written statement released earlier Thursday, he said there is ''definitely a hidden agenda.'' He said he has no idea what that agenda might be but has no other explanation. ''There is no reason to make such a wild allegation that I touched him in an improper place,'' Kelly said. ''It did not happen. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.'' Kelly said that he had met the friend's roommate ''only once or twice'' before the trip and that the man ''kept asking me a lot of things about my background'' and said he knew what his position was. ''I really don't know why he said what he said, what his motive is. I never did anything to him, and as far as I know he wasn't angry with me,'' Kelly said. Kelly said he has never had a sexual abuse allegation made against him. Pamela Trautner, spokeswoman for the Justice Cabinet, said there is no evidence that Kelly was ever accused of inappropriate sexual activities or sex crimes before now. |
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