WQXE News

A former Kentucky State Police Post Four trooper who was in charge of Trooper Island is accused of stealing funds from the youth camp located on Dale Hollow Lake.

According to an indictment from Clinton Circuit Court, Jonathan M. Biven was indicted by a grand jury on August 6 on a charge of Class C Felony Theft by Unlawful Taking or Disposition, more than $10,000 but less than $1 million.

The indictment alleges that Biven “unlawfully took or exercised control over revenue and or monies, the movable property of Trooper Island with the intent to deprive the owner thereof.” The indictment states the alleged theft took place between January 1, 2019, and September 30, 2024.

Biven retired from the KSP after 21.5 years at the end of September 2024. He is currently employed as a public safety officer at Muhammed Ali International Airport in Louisville, and the Louisville Regional Airport Authority said in a statement Biven has been placed on paid administrative leave pending further investigation.

Biven is scheduled to appear for an arraignment hearing in Clinton Circuit Court on September 10. A class c felony carries a potential prison term of five to 10 years.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court met for their first meeting of the month Tuesday.

Hardin County Animal Care and Control Director Mike McNutt provided an update on July activity for the animal shelter.

“We adopted 49, which was significantly down,” McNutt said. “We returned 34, which was up.”

The live release rate at the shelter for July was 93 percent, with the cat live release rate at 96 percent. McNutt said animal control responded to 212 complaints, mostly relating to the heat.

Hardin County Jailer Josh Lindblom said inmates at the Hardin County Detention Center collected 1,304 bags of trash along 118.6 miles of county roads in July, a number that was down as they also assisted at the Hardin County Fair.

“Intake for the month is 456, release is 442, and average daily population is 600, with 561 on the physical count without temporary releases,” Lindblom said.

Hardin County Emergency Management Deputy Director Richard DeWitt said during the previous fiscal year the EMA office issued 53 emergency notifications and responses and staff completed more than 350 hours of training. Recent emergency preparedness efforts included the creation of a supply stockpile for the first 72 hours after a disaster and the placement of mile markers along the Rough River to assist in search and rescue operations.

DeWitt also said the office is working on developing a submission form residents can submit storm damage reports to.

“They can give us a little bit of information, and it comes straight to us, so it helps us get started into looking into areas for damage,” DeWitt said.

The Hardin County Fiscal Court will next meet August 25.

Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said the city did not release information on a July 20 fuel spill at the upcoming Elizabethtown Wawa gas station because there was no imminent threat to the public and the incident happened on privately-owned property.

“It was under control,” Gregory said. “Our folks did a good job. We’re not the investigating agency. The state is, and we expected the state to cut a press release because it’s their investigation, or Wawa to cut a press release because it’s their business.”

Gregory asked staff with the city’s Stormwater Department to address the spill during Monday’s City Council meeting. A statement from Wawa released by the city states that the fuel spill “occurred during a routine quality test that was being performed by a third-party vendor/contractor.”

City Stormwater Director Rita Davis said 1,500 gallons of fuel spilled into the gas station’s private catch basin, which is connected to a 66,000 gallon underground detention system.

“We’ve been monitoring, checking the downstream catch basins to see if anything has left that Wawa site, and we’ve determined that nothing has left the site,” Davis said. It’s all collected into the underground detention basin.”

City Stormwater Engineer James Gray said the incident wasn’t reported because the gas never entered the public system.

“In the big picture here, it was about 25 bathtubs of liquid going into an area that holds 1,100 bathtubs full of liquid, so it was a lot of fuel, but there was adequate storage in the ground, nothing left,” Gray said.

Wawa said the grand opening of the gas station will be delayed to the fall to allow for full remediation of the site.