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The suspects charged in the Crystal Rogers investigation all appeared in the Nelson Circuit Court for a pre-trial conference Thursday.
Brooks Houck and Steven Lawson appeared in person and Joseph Lawson appeared via Zoom from the Kentucky State Reformatory before Judge Charles Simms III to discuss the status of several motions that have been filed in the case.
Special Prosecutor Shane Young said discovery in the case has been completed, with the final round of data consisting of about 265 gigabytes being transferred to the defense counsels. When asked by Simms about the change of venue motion filed by attorneys for Houck and joined by the attorneys for the Lawsons, Young said he agreed with the motion and said he would discuss possible venues with the counsels. The motion filed by Houck’s attorneys asks for the trial to be moved to either Boyd County or Daviess County. Simms requested that the chosen venue be large enough to accommodate members of the public and have a separate entrance for jurors.
Young told Simms the prosecution needs eight weeks to respond to the defenses’ objections to his motion to consolidate the three cases into one trial, and the defense attorneys asked for two weeks after that to respond to the prosecution’s response. Young asked for the same time frame to respond to Steven Lawson’s attorney Ted Lavit’s motion to dismiss based on immunity claims, with Lavit saying the judge may need to hear sworn testimony for his response.
The case will reconvene for a status conference regarding the change of venue motion on May 1. The other motions will be reviewed in a pre-trial conference scheduled for June 13.
Hardin County Schools Community Relations Specialist John Wright says the district takes any possible threat to school safety seriously.
“You never obviously want to have to go through anything like a threat to a building or, you know, God forbid a shooter or anything of the sort, but you have plans for those,” Wright said. “We have plans for every event, every tragedy or emergency that could happen.”
Those plans were put into effect Thursday morning when a reported threat forced the evacuation of Rineyville Elementary School. Students were evacuated and officers with the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office and the Kentucky State Police searched the building while officials reviewed security camera footage.
Wright says the execution of the safety plan Thursday shows why planning is important.
“It’s never good for those things to happen, but when they do, it’s nice to know that the plan works,” Wright said. “Our buses came and evacuated students. We did what we needed to do today to keep our students safe. We feel good about our plans and everything worked today like we wanted it to.”
The threat at Rineyville is similar to recent threats that have been investigated at other schools around Kentucky. Wright thanked law enforcement and the Rineyville community for their support.
“We are super thankful for our friends in law enforcement,” Wright said. “They came to our aid immediately and did what they needed to do to ensure students have safety, so we’re grateful for our community, our parents, and everyone that helped take care of our students.”
More information on school safety plans can be found on the Hardin County Schools website.
The Hodgenville Police Department is striving to educate parents after a recent uptick in cases involving “sextortion.”
“We are going to go live via Zoom on Monday (March 25) at 7 p.m., and what we’re going to do is we’re just gonna talk about: ‘What is extortion? How can I try to keep my kids safer? What do I do if it happens to me or my kids?’” said Hodgenville Police Chief James Richardson. “We’re going to have the SRO talk about some of the things that he’s seen in the school system, and we’ve got a representative from the school system. We’re also going to talk about, a little bit, the mental health that we see with the kids, that sort of thing.”
The goal of the presentation is to help parents protect their kids.
“We just want to kind of get the word out,” Richardson said. “This is what to be on lookout for. These are some resources you can use. There are some agencies out there and some folks that can help, so we’re just trying to get that word out, get the resources out there for parents, and kind of give a heads up on what they can do to help protect their kids, and if it does happen to them what they can do and who to report it to.”
More information on the presentation and the Zoom link can be found on the Hodgenville Police Department Facebook page.
The deadline to register for the winter Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program is approaching.
Registration for winter LIHEAP subsidies runs from now through March 31 or until funds are depleted.
“It covers heating, so it will cover electric, gas, propane, kerosene, and wood, however you heat,” LaRue County Community Action Coordinator Renna Miller said. “It’s income based, so depending on their income and how many people they have in their household.”
Applicants have to bring proof of income, a license, and a Social Security card, along with their bills that they want help with.
Each county has dedicated offices for Central Kentucky Community Action, locations for which can be found at ckcac.org. Residents who want to learn more about the program should contact their local office.
“They can call their local office and talk to the coordinators at the local offices, and then we can tell them what they need,” Miller said. “They can also give us their income and we can tell them if they qualify or not before they even come into the office.”
Assistance is available on a first come, first served basis.