LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A new bill proposed in Kentucky would make it harder for police officers to get back into law enforcement after a sex crime.
Currently under Kentucky law, only felonies forbid an officer from getting back into law enforcement. On Tuesday, Kentucky's House of Representatives passed a bill that would add misdemeanors related to sexual assault or misconduct.
In many cases, felony sex crimes are amended down to misdemeanors.
One of the bill's sponsors said when one of the police officers in her district told her about this, she couldn't believe it wasn't already included in Kentucky law.
"He had retired, but he wanted to have me help him fix a problem to defend our children as well as the integrity of the profession he had dedicated his life to," Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy, said.
For five years, Heather Richards has lived with pain. She was the first woman to accuse then-Louisville Metro Police officer Pablo Cano of rape in 2017 and may now see a change.
"It’s devastating,” said Richards. “It's horrible for the victims.”
Cano pleaded guilty to five sexual misconduct charges after he admitted to having nonconsensual sex with the women.
His rape charge went away, and prosecutors amended down the case to a misdemeanor.
“This is a man who used his position as a police officer,” said Richard.
Cano is not the only one accused of rape in recent years. In 2015, then-Kentucky State Police trooper Stratford Young was one of four officers accused of having sex with the same 15-year-old girl.
Young was initially charged with rape, but he cut a plea deal to the lesser charge of engaging in an unlawful transaction with a minor and served no jail time.
This is a longstanding issue in Kentucky.
In 1996, Todd Walls was then a 28-year-old Louisville police officer – was charged with rape and sodomy involving a 15-year-old girl. He quit the force and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor sexual misconduct before eventually going onto work for several police agencies.
He even served as police chief in west Buechel.
Walls now works as a Jefferson County Sheriff's deputy.
"If I have to call an officer for some reason, I don’t want to have to worry about the fact that they had raped somebody before,” said Louisville attorney Shannon Fauver who represented six of the 12 women who have spoken out against Cano.
Fauver is in favor of House Bill 206, which is meant to purge police who commit sex crimes from law enforcement even if they are charges are amended down.
"Now not only will keep people from becoming officers, if an officer is already on the streets, they lose their license now,” said Fauver.
Currently under Kentucky law, felony charges stop officers from getting back into law enforcement. The new bill would add misdemeanor sexual related offenses.
“This is a good bill, a necessary bill,” said Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy, before the bill continued its move through the Kentucky General Assembly.
Richards hopes change is on the way and says a situation like this "sends a big message about what matters."
House Bill 206 passed unanimously by the Kentucky House of Representatives on Tuesday. The bill now heads to the Senate.
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