Former Clay County Clerk Sentenced 150 Months for Racketeering and Voter Fraud Conspiracies
| U.S. Attorney’s Office March 09, 2011 |
FRANKFORT, KY—A federal judge sentenced a former Clay County Clerk to 150 months in prison for his criminal actions that allowed him and other officials to gain power and control politics in the county.
Freddy Thompson was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Danny C. Reeves for conspiring with a former circuit court judge, a school superintendent, and other county officials in schemes that involved racketeering, money laundering and voting fraud. He was also sentenced for obstruction of justice.
Last March, a jury convicted Thompson and seven others for their participation in the above mentioned schemes. The jury also found that the eight men were jointly liable for $3.4 million that represented the salaries and contracts they were able to get as a result of the conspiracies.
As chairman of the board of elections, Thompson helped the Clay County elections board control the outcomes of the primary and general elections for the years 2002, 2004 and 2006.
Evidence at the trial proved that during elections, Thompson provided large sums of money that was used so they could buy votes from residents in the county. He also instructed the officers how they could use the voting machines to steal votes.
As part of the scheme, Thompson and others switched the votes of county residents. Thompson also used others at his office to compile a list of vote sellers in the county.
On more than one occasion, after the elections had ended Thompson helped prepare false election reports to be sent to Frankfort that intentionally contained inaccurate voting totals. Thompson also, according to court records, instructed election officers to destroy voter assistance forms to avoid reporting the total number of people assisted during the election.
Trial testimony also revealed that Thompson provided a false testimony before the grand jury in 2009.
Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Elizabeth A. Fries, Special Agent in Charge of FBI, jointly made the announcement today after the sentencing.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI.The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen Smith and Jason Parman.