LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Jefferson County Sheriff's deputy was fired this month after the state revoked his police certification, years after he confessed to a sex crime involving a 15-year-old girl.

Todd Walls, a now-former court deputy, pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct in 1996. He was accused of having a sexual relationship with the teenager he met while working as an officer with the old Louisville police department.

He was fired Sept. 1 after the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council informed Sheriff John Aubrey that Walls' peace officer certification had been revoked.

Kentucky House Bill 206, signed into law earlier this year, was aimed to keep officers off the force that have been convicted of sex crimes. The law requires KLEC to decertify officers who have been convicted of misdemeanor sex crimes.

At issue was a judge expunging the conviction from Walls' record.

"A lawful expungement may occur if the 'offense was not a sex offense or an offense committed against a child.' Thus, this sex crime conviction, which also involved a minor, was not eligible for expungement and is in clear contradiction with the governing statute and should not have occurred," KLEC Executive Director John Moberly wrote.

Attorney Thomas Clay, who represents Walls, said the officer's record was expunged in 2015 and wiped from the court's history with a judge's order. Expungement is the legal process where an arrest, charge or conviction are completely removed from someone's criminal record but it does not erase what happened or require anyone who ever had a copy of the records to delete them.

It is unclear why a judge ruled the conviction could be expunged. 

Police charged Walls with first- and third-degree rape, sodomy and unlawful transaction with a minor, according to the original arrest citation. The case was pleaded down to a single count of sexual misconduct. Walls was sentenced to 12-months probation and a $65 fine. 

WDRB obtained a copy of the Crimes Against Children Unit report from a source and last month reported details of the 1996 case that included phone calls between Walls and the girl. 

"Was I good in bed for a 15-year-old?" the girl asked, according to a transcript of the phone call obtained by WDRB. "Heck Yeah," Walls responded. 

WDRB located the now-adult woman as part of efforts to authenticate the Crimes Against Children Unit file. She has never spoken publicly about the sexual encounters with Walls. WDRB is not identifying the woman, as she is a survivor of a sex crime.

"I feel like my silence has allowed (Walls) to feel entitled to keep a position in law enforcement," she said in a recent interview. "I want to make the record very clear: He raped me. He took advantage of me. He committed a crime against a child."

KLEC also instructed law enforcement leaders throughout the commonwealth to notify the agency if they are aware of any current employees with a current or past sex crimes conviction. 

Col. Carl Yates, a sheriff's department spokesman, previously told WDRB that the office was aware of the sex crime conviction and had lawyers look into it.

"We asked legal counsel, and we were we were told that it means it never happened," Yates said. "When records are expunged it means it never happened."

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