FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky State Police have finished an investigation of document shredding by former Legislative Research Commission Director Bobby Sherman and determined no laws were violated, a spokesman said Thursday.
The documents were shredded last September, two days after Sherman resigned. His departure came after his office investigated sexual harassment complaints against a former state lawmaker.
The shredded documents investigation was completed by the detective assigned to the case, the status of which is now “closed-unfounded,” Trooper Paul Blanton said in an email Thursday.
Sherman told The Courier-Journal last year that he went with other LRC staffers on a Sunday after he resigned to clean out his office and shredded documents. None of the documents involved sexual harassment allegations or any investigations involving the agency, Sherman said.
Two women legislative staffers allege that former state Rep. John Arnold, D-Sturgis, sexually harassed them. Arnold has denied any wrongdoing.
The staffers’ attorney, Thomas Clay of Louisville, asked state police last September to investigate whether Sherman destroyed records related to the case.
Clay told the Lexington Herald-Leader he had not heard anything from state police and wants to see the final report.
The Herald-Leader said Sherman was not immediately available for comment.
Clay said he hasn’t finished his own investigation of the shredded documents.
“I plan to take Sherman’s deposition about it and all others who were involved,” he told the Herald-Leader.
The Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission earlier this month found Arnold guilty of violating state ethics laws and fined him $3,000. His attorney vowed to appeal to circuit court.
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