Tim Nolan: Former Kentucky Judge Convicted of Human Trafficking

Tim Nolan is a former Campbell County, Kentucky, district judge who pleaded guilty in February 2018 to 21 counts of human trafficking and related sex crimes involving 19 victims, seven of them minors under 16, and was sentenced that May to 20 years in state prison. His crimes spanned 2010 to 2017 and targeted young runaways and women struggling with heroin addiction, whom he coerced with money, drugs, housing, and threats tied to his former judicial authority.¹

Who Tim Nolan Was Before the Charges

Nolan was elected a Campbell County district judge in 1977 and served on the bench until losing his reelection bid in 1985. He also worked as a city solicitor during his legal career.²¹

In the decades that followed, he became an outspoken Tea Party voice in northern Kentucky and stayed active in local conservative politics. In November 2016 he won a seat on the Campbell County school board, which he resigned in 2017 after criminal charges surfaced. Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin had also appointed him to the state boxing and wrestling commission, but rescinded the appointment before Nolan served.²³

During the 2016 presidential race, Nolan called himself Donald Trump’s Campbell County campaign chairman and served as the campaign’s representative in Frankfort during the March 2016 Kentucky GOP Caucus and as a Trump delegate at the state Republican convention that April. After his arrest, the campaign’s Kentucky leadership distanced itself. State coalition director Phyllis Sparks said the campaign had no county chairmen and called Nolan “self-appointed,” an “enthusiastic volunteer” who did not participate in planning. Kentucky campaign chairman Vincent Fields said he had never appointed Nolan. Nolan insisted he had documentation proving his role but said it had been seized by police.⁴

The Victims and How He Coerced Them

Prosecutors said Nolan’s crimes ran from 2010 to 2017 and involved 19 victims, including seven minors under 16. Many were young runaways or women dependent on heroin. He used money, drugs, housing, meals, and transportation to pull them into commercial sexual activity. One victim told investigators she had sex with Nolan more than 50 times in exchange for money and was often told to use drugs and alcohol beforehand.²⁵

He also traded on his history as a judge to keep victims silent. Prosecutors said Nolan threatened to have victims arrested, to have their children taken from them, and to report them to parole officers. He told them no one would ever believe them.¹

Investigation, Charges, and Guilty Plea

The case opened in December 2016, after a victim contacted a school resource officer at a Campbell County school. Police raided Nolan’s farm in southern Campbell County in February 2017, and he was arrested that April on initial charges tied to a minor forced into commercial sex around August 2016.⁵⁶

The Special Prosecution Division of the Kentucky Attorney General’s office handled the case, led by Assistant Attorney General Barbara Whaley under Attorney General Andy Beshear. As more victims came forward, the indictment grew. A June 2017 grand jury returned 22 counts, including 16 counts of human trafficking, four involving minors, exposing Nolan to more than 100 years in prison. The indictment was superseded twice and eventually reached 30 total charges, including first-degree rape, human trafficking, witness tampering, and unlawful transaction with a minor.⁷⁵¹

On February 9, 2018, Nolan pleaded guilty to 21 counts under a plea agreement covering human trafficking of adults, promoting human trafficking of minors, and unlawful transaction with minors.⁸ The following month he tried to withdraw the plea, alleging a conflict of interest by his attorneys, but offered no supporting evidence and the motion was denied.¹

The Sentence

On May 4, 2018, Campbell Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Lape sentenced Nolan, then 71, to 20 years in prison. “Your crimes are reprehensible, and now you must pay your debt,” Judge Lape said.¹

The sentence carried additional conditions:

Lifetime registration as a sex offender.
$110,000 in asset forfeiture and payments to the Human Trafficking Victims Fund, including $50,000 due the day of sentencing and $60,000 in further forfeiture.⁸
An HIV test, DNA sample, and completion of a sexual offense class.
No contact with victims, no social media access, and no access to pornography.
Five years of probation after release, with prior approval required before being around children.¹

Before sentencing, Nolan had sought house arrest, citing a brain tumor and other health issues. Judge Lape denied the motion, finding that the Department of Corrections could manage significant medical needs.⁵

Appeals and Post-Conviction Challenges

Nolan has continued to challenge his conviction from prison, so far without success. In November 2021 he filed for post-conviction relief in Campbell Circuit Court under Kentucky Rule of Criminal Procedure 11.42, arguing among other things that there was no factual basis for one count of unlawful transaction with a minor because the victim was actually 18. The circuit court denied the motion in February 2022. The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed in April 2023, and the Kentucky Supreme Court declined review in August 2023.⁹

In April 2024 he filed a federal habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, again claiming actual innocence on the minor-related charge and ineffective assistance of counsel. In November 2024 a magistrate judge recommended dismissing the petition as untimely, finding the one-year filing deadline had expired in September 2023 and that the actual innocence claim was not credible given his guilty plea and the unreliable, unjustifiably delayed evidence he offered.⁹

Where Nolan Is Now

Nolan is incarcerated at Northpoint Training Center, a Kentucky state prison. The Kentucky Department of Corrections lists his parole eligibility date as September 1, 2028, with a maximum sentence expiration of April 15, 2037.¹⁰

The Connected Case: Attorney Robert Poole

The Nolan investigation produced a second prosecution. Campbell County police passed a tip to Erlanger police that led to the arrest of Boone County attorney Robert L. Poole on charges including trafficking of minors, human trafficking of adults, rape, and witness bribery. Poole was first indicted on 15 counts in Kenton County in 2018, and a Boone County grand jury added four counts of human trafficking and one count of witness bribery in May 2021.¹¹¹²

Poole pleaded guilty in both jurisdictions. In Kenton Circuit Court he was convicted of five counts of promoting human trafficking and sentenced to eight years, probated for five years with conditions, and ordered to pay $40,000 to the Human Trafficking Victims Fund. In Boone Circuit Court he received a concurrent five-year sentence for two counts of the same charge and was ordered to pay $10,000 more. A 10-year protective order covered 13 victims across both cases. In March 2023 the Kentucky Supreme Court granted Poole’s motion to resign from the practice of law under terms of permanent disbarment.¹³¹⁴

1
WCPO. Ex-Campbell County Judge Sentenced to 20 Years for Sex Crimes
2
Legal News. Former Campbell County Judge Faces Human Trafficking Charges
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Cincinnati Enquirer. More Sex Crime Charges Against Former Judge Tim Nolan
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Cincinnati Enquirer. Trump Supporters Distance Themselves From Ex-Judge Charged With Rape
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Cincinnati Enquirer. Tim Nolan’s Attorney Questions Legality of Sex Trafficking Charges
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Thomson Reuters Foundation. Former Kentucky Judge Who Chaired Trump County Campaign Charged With Human Trafficking
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FOX19. Former Campbell County Judge Indicted by KY Attorney General
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NKyTribune. Former Campbell County District Judge Tim Nolan Sentenced to 20 Years on Human Trafficking Charges
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United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Nolan v. Mazza, No. 2:24-cv-00061-DCR-CJS
10
Kentucky Department of Corrections. Offender Lookup – Timothy Nolan
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Cincinnati Enquirer. Attorney Robert Poole Faces Human Trafficking Charges in Kenton County
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Kentucky Attorney General. Attorney General Cameron Announces Indictment of Robert Poole
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NKyTribune. Northern Kentucky Attorney Robert Poole Sentenced in Boone County on Human Trafficking Charges
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FindLaw. Kentucky Bar Association v. Poole