While corruption happens in every arena, it’s always especially troubling when laws are violated by the very people meant to uphold them. Perhaps that’s why hearing that a 38-year-old female family court judge in Kentucky is facing nine ethics violations for allegedly having group sex in the courtroom with multiple employees (among other offenses) is so jarring.
- Kenton County Judge Dawn Gentry has been suspended pending investigation. In addition to the multiple counts of sexual activity in the workplace with her employees, Gentry is also accused of several other violations that on their own would be grounds for firing, but she was only suspended while the charges levied against her can be properly looked into at the moment.
- She’s kind of the worst boss ever. Sure, rampant sex in the courtroom isn’t cool and probably made a lot of the people she wasn’t sleeping with very uncomfortable, but her antics didn’t stop there. According to Fox News, Gentry also lets her employees drink on the job and even gives preferential treatment to the lawyers who slept with her. Whaaat?
- The Judicial Conduct Commission is not happy with her. In a statement, they chastized Gentry for basically tarnishing the name of all good judges everywhere with her inappropriate behavior. “While serving as Family Court Judge for Kenton County—in particular, since being elected to that position in November 2018—you have engaged in a pattern of conduct that constitutes misconduct in office and violates the Code of Judicial Conduct,” they wrote.
- She even hired a guy because he was putting out. One of the worst charges against Gentry is that she was complicit in the “inappropriate hiring” of a guy named Stephen Penrose, who only got the job because he was good in bed. “You hired Stephen Penrose because you were engaged in a personal sexual relationship with him, not on the basis of merit,” the commission claimed, adding that she forced another employee to resign “to create a job opening for Mr. Penrose.” Not only that, but she then apparently had a threesome with Penrose and her secretary, Laura Aubrey, during office hours. Damn!
- Gentry has denied all charges. She’s officially accused of “falsifying timesheets, delaying hearings for or dismissing attorneys who did not support her bid for Kenton County Family Court judge, and coercing others to contribute to her campaign while serving as an appointed judge,” Fox News says. It remains to be seen what will happen if she’s found guilty.
