Former Kentucky Justice Secretary and past 8th District State Representative John Tilley has been arrested on a rape charge in Lexington.
Tilley was booked into the Fayette County Jail Monday morning at 9:15 on a charge of first-degree rape and was being held without bond as of mid-morning. A spokesperson for the Lexington Police Department told The Courier Journal Tilley was charged Monday morning “regarding a Special Victims Investigation that occurred this year.”According to Lexington Herald-Leader, the 53-year-old Tilley turned himself into police in downtown Lexington. The paper cited the arrest citation as saying Tilley had sex with a victim who could not consent due to their level of intoxication. The alleged rape occurred on April 15.
Tilley’s attorneys, Steve Schroering and Chris Spedding, told the Courier-Journal their client is innocent of the charge and turned himself in to investigators in Lexington Monday morning. Schroering added that “John Tilley maintains his innocence of the criminal charges and has cooperated with the investigation. Schroering said. “He respects the judicial process and has no further comment at this time.”
Tilley was a five-term state legislator and former justice cabinet secretary under Governor Matt Bevin. As a member of the state House of Representatives, Tilley spent seven years as chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
In the 2022 session of the Kentucky General Assembly, Tilley served as a legislative lobbyist for Pace-O-Matic — a maker of slot-like “gray machines” — and Lifeskills, Inc., a behavioral mental health provider that contracts with the state.
