Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Ex-Judge Traded Vape Pens For Sex with Inmate: Sheriff

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

James Kenney, 75, was once a judge and is a licensed attorney. In early August 2026, the sheriff in Clermont County, Ohio, said Kenney met with an male inmate in the jail and smuggled in chewing tobacco and vape products. Sheriff Chris Stratton said Kenney later admitted he traded the contraband for sexual favors with the inmate. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at the strange case and why the investigation is just beginning in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guests: Sheriff Chris Stratton https://www.facebook.com/ClermontSheriffRon O'Brien https://www.facebook.com/RonOBrienFranklinCountyProsecutorCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Van DinhGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

So we did file warrant for what we talked about the other day. So you're being charged with one count of engaging in prostitution, one count of solicitation. The man with the shocked expression isn't just any other guy. He's a lawyer and a retired judge. And the sheriff says he engaged in prostitution in his jail. And the investigation, it's far from over. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is crime fix. James Kenny spent years on the bench as a judge.

And he's a lawyer. week, he found himself on the wrong side of the courtroom. The 75-year-old attorney became a defendant. Kenny is accused of using his position, his job as a lawyer, to get into a jail in Ohio, give an inmate of bait, pen, and dip in exchange for sexual favors at the jail. And the sheriff says, part of this was recorded on video. You just saw some of it. Claremont County Sheriff, Chris Stratton, is going to join me shortly to discuss the case. The alleged misconduct by Kenny happened in his jail. The investigation started earlier this month when deputies noticed something strange going on with the inmates. A criminal complaint states,

on August 15, 2026, detectives with the Claremont County Sheriff's Office responded to the Claremont County Jail regarding contraband discovered within the facility. During the investigation, inmates were found to be in possession of contraband, including full cans of chewing tobacco and bait pens. Through interviews, review of available evidence and other investigative measures, detectives developed information indicating that the contraband was being introduced into the facility by an outside source. Contraband, dip and vape pens, that's stuff that you cannot get in jail. It's not allowed there. The detectives did some digging. They started going through surveillance video and listening to jail phone calls. And look what they said they found. On July 29th, a door opened at a secure security.

area of the jail. And attorney James Kenny walked through it. He opened a door to an interview room and he walked right in. Now those rooms are set aside for attorneys to meet with their clients. Those meetings are privileged. So audio is not supposed to be recorded. Some time later, Kenny walks out of the interview room. He stops for a time. He's in the hallway for more than a minute. It's unclear what he's doing, but he's just sort of hanging out there. Is he pondering? Is he thinking about what he's going to do next? Who knows? Only he knows. But eventually, he leaves that hallway. Several days pass, and then a sheriff's detective says he found video showing James Kenny returning to the jail. It's the same camera, the same hallway,

and that same interview room. And in Kenny goes. It's not clear. how long he's in that room from what we're being shown, but he eventually comes out with a friend. This time, a male inmate opens the door first. He stands there for several moments. Eventually, he walks out, and it's unclear how long he and Kenny were actually in that interview room together. The inmate and Kenny shake hands. The inmate walks away down the hall, likely back to his cell. And Kenny stands there for a few more moments. He had to a adjust his pants at one point, and then he walks back out the door, and he's on his way. Now back to the complaint. It states, the investigation subsequently identified James Kenny as a

suspect. A search warrant was obtained and executed at Kenny's residence during which detectives collected evidence. During a subsequent interview, Kenny admitted that on or about August 4th, 2006, he brought cans of chewing tobacco and vape pens into the Claremont County Jail and provided them to an inmate. Kenny further admitted that he provided the contraband in connection with engaging in sexual acts with the inmate, whom Kenny described as a friend. The investigation further revealed that Kenny represented himself to Claremont County Jail correction staff as an attorney in order to obtain attorney contact visits with the inmate. Kenny was not representing the inmate in the inmate's pending criminal case.

By utilizing his status as an attorney to obtain access to the inmate under the representation that the contact was attorney related, Kenny was able to have contact with the inmate during which the contraband was provided and sexual activity occurred. Days later, deputies decided it was time for James Kenny to face the music. James, how are you, sir? Very good. How are you doing? I'm Corbyshaust. This is Sergeant Cooper, so just so you know, if he hasn't told you, you're under arrest, okay? Oh, no, he didn't tell me. Oh, I was coming to tell you. I didn't know they were here

already. Now, um, we filed a warrant for your hands. Keep your eyes out of your pockets for me, sir. Oh, I'm sorry. So, um, we did file an arm for what we talked about the other day. So you're being charged with one count of engaging in prostitution, one count of solicitation and one count of obstructing official business. So we're going to read you the warrant. So they're being charged with three things. I am going to have to hold on to your cell phone, but you are going to go to jail today. Okay.

We're resulting from everything we talked about. The other day when I was at your house. Okay? Yeah. All right. You guys are going to take you over. Put your hands upon your back, sir. How are you on mobility-wise?

Okay. I can help you walk too. Let's turn them like that. Be a little bit more comfortable. There we go. You got any cans of different? Grisly, kind of like that in your pockets? I am in the wallet.

Okay. Yeah, I want you right there. Okay. Put no tobacco products or that's our... Vaves. Here, we're gonna put a little bit... What's more confident for you? Like that or like that?

This one is fine. Okay. I want to be all catty walpus. Too tight? No? Shouldn't be. All right. All right.

Check this pocket. money and hangarship in there. All right, sir. We're going to get back out this door. We're going to walk to the car over here. I'm going to show you more of the video of the former judge being booked into the jail here in just a moment. But first, I want to turn to Sheriff Chris Stratton. He is the sheriff of Claremont County, Ohio. He runs that jail where this alleged sexual contact happened. So Sheriff Stratton, thanks so much for coming on. I appreciate it. You're welcome. Sheriff Stratton, you know, I know You're kind of limited on what you can say since this is an ongoing investigation. Charges have been filed.

But how common is this that you would have an issue with somebody, you know, being accused of using their role as an attorney to come into the jail and bringing contraband and then having sexual contact with an inmate? Well, this is the first time in Claremont County that I'm aware of it. And I've been here 33 years. So it's pretty rare here at least. So having somebody bring in contraband, is that a pretty common occurrence? Because, you know, people come in to visit their loved ones, their friends, that type of thing. But do they typically have that type of access to an inmate? They do not. The only people who have contact visits are attorneys, clergy, mental health, probation, parole, law enforcement. The general public does not have contact visits. visits in Claremont, Katner. So being allowed to go into one of those interview rooms, you know, where you have privacy. And you talked about an attorney, a mental health professional,

clergy, those are conversations that are typically privileged. And so that would be a so-called contact visit. Are there cameras in there with no audio? Or are those rooms totally not surveilled at all? I can understand if there's no audio, since it's a privileged visit, but there's still like a security concern, I would think. There is a security concern. Prior to this incident, there were not cameras inside of the rooms. Four days after we discovered it, we installed cameras. It's a bird's-eye-view-only camera. It cannot zoom in on any kind of legal documents for obvious reasons. And there's no audio. So there are fixed cameras now in all three of our contact visit rooms. Wow. So as a result of this alleged incident, you've installed cameras. As you said, there are no audio, bird's eye view only. Correct.

This is just wild to me. I know that the former judge is innocent until proven guilty, but he's facing some charges in your county engaging in prostitution, soliciting and, you know, soliciting prostitution. You know, the whole like passing around cans of dip and bait pens and all. of this stuff. I'm sure that raised the eyebrows of your corrections officers when they saw all of this going on. I mean, is that common that your corrections officers in a jail would see contraband like that being passed around? I mean, how common is that type of thing? You know, not typically cans of tobacco. Tobacco is a very valuable commodity in the jails. And the biggest safety concern is if they create or people like this attorney create a pattern or a method of getting it inside of the jail, inmates likely to extort the person the next time to bring in more dangerous drugs or weapons or cell phones, you know, really major security risk to the facility, not only to the

inmate population, but to the staff as well. Has the inmate faced any consequences as a result of this interaction? Not yet, but it's an ongoing investigation. I think it's bigger than this one incident. Oh, really? Can you elaborate on that? Not at this time. But he's visited other correctional facilities in the immediate area.

I can't tell you that. Interesting. So there may be more there there there. There could be. We'll see. It's ongoing and it's really early, really early. And this particular inmate has already been sentenced to prison. So like I said, it's ongoing at this time. Is that inmate cooperating? He did. He did. Which was shocking, shocking because it was a male inmate. So you have a 75-year-old, an attorney and an inmate who's going to, to a state penitentiary who's in his 30s. Did James Kenny actually represent this guy, or was he just acting like he represented

him? No, he didn't. He had credentials through the Ohio Bar Association, which granted him access into the facility to meet with the inmate in a contact visit. However, he was not his attorney. So there's an ongoing investigation into whether James Kenny, a 75-year-old, man was using his bar association credentials to go around to correctional facilities in southwest Ohio and visit inmates potentially for sex?

Well, I can only speak to what he's done in our facility, and that is correct. Well, that is wild, Sheriff Stratton. I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for coming on, and we'll keep an eye on this case. You're welcome. Thanks for having me. All right, let's look at a little bit more of the video that I told you I would show you of James Kenny being taken to jail. We're going to that first car out here, okay? Once we get to the jail, I will read this all to you, okay? Let me green this vehicle.

Yeah, I'd probably lock it. It is. We need an unable to maintain the same. We're going right here, sir, to this car. We're going to go on the passenger side, rear door, okay? But watch your step there. Do me a favor, don't jump in the back seat because it's hard plastic. We don't have like cushions and stuff.

Let me unlock the door here. It's kind of like a spider web. So take your time getting there, I can help you, okay? Okay. Now before we get in the jail, you have nothing tucked inside your legs, do you? No. All right. Do you me help?

There we go. I'm kind of a taller guy. I'll take a big tee. Yeah. I think you're going to do that one. It's like for us. Try that. There we go.

There we go. There we go. Just one more. Good deal. We'll do the same thing when we'll get you out, all right? Okay. I'm still. It's all stuck.

There we go. All right, lean back for me so I can buckle you in. You got it? It's hurt my dog. It's. Okay. I think I'm okay. And over this way.

There we go. All better? Yeah. That's how you... That's how you... That's how you're good. It's all about how you situate. If you put them flat against the back, you're good.

So it's just a short ride from the sheriff's office to the jail where Kenny was booked. Right. All right, sir, let's try to get you out of here. Yeah. Oh. There you go. I'm going to pull your foot back. There we go.

One step of the time, that's saying. Yeah, for sure. Try to see if we can get the other one. There we go. You know what they say? Teamwork makes the dream work. Good? Take your time, getting out.

Take your time. Drive. 50-5-9. Take a three-year-old male. Good. We're going to step back here so I can close the door. Take your time. Take your time.

Got you. Okay. Good. We're right here. To where this deputy is? This is the door up. All right. Good up here.

Thank you, sir. We're going to here. What you're going to do is you're going to face the counter, walk all the way up to him, face the glass. Thank you, sir. Right here? Walk up to the counter there. We're going to come out of saying,

and what they're going to do is they're going to ask you some questions that they ask everybody. They're going to patch you down again. Remind me, get your stuff out of my car. Your wallet, keys. Hey, can you put. me right back out to my car. Do you have any of those days?

Keys and wallet obtained. Okay. What is it right? You can't pass 24? No. Do you detox over anything? Do what? Do what?

James Kenny was booked on three misdemeanor charges, solicitation, engaging in prostitution, and obstruction of a obstruction of official business. I want to turn now to Ron O'Brien. He is the former elected prosecutor in Franklin County, Ohio. That's up in Columbus, Ohio, north of Claremont County. Ron, thanks so much for coming back on. Oh, good morning. Yeah, good morning. Curious about your thoughts. I mean, you're a lawyer. You've dealt with a lot of judges over the years. Of course, this is a former judge, but he is facing, you know, these misdemeanor counts. However, I mean, this is something you just don't really hear about all that often. An attorney accused of using their credentials to get into the

jail to engage in sexual conduct and then, you know, dropping off dip and vape pens. Yes, that's a first time for me. We have over the years people, usually their girlfriends or family smuggling drugs into the jail in their underwear or in their boot or somewhere else that aren't detected or through the mail for a while putting things inside a book, a Suboxone, which is easily conceivable that way, was a popular thing. But I cannot remember any attorney or, for that matter, visitor of a person at our county jail that engaged in sexual activity behind the guys of the visit. Now, we have had periodically personnel, whether it's a cook or a deputy even, engaging in sexual activity with inmates in exchange for favors.

But this is a first for me. Yeah. I mean, I've heard of attorneys having sex with their clients, like in the visiting room, I guess the interview room, contact room, whatever you're going to call it. I've heard of that happening. and it's a big no-no. You're not supposed to do that. However, I've not heard of somebody posing as somebody's lawyer because this guy was not this person's lawyer. He just had the Bar Association credential card. And apparently he claimed during the interview with the deputies, he was a quote-unquote friend that he had visited and provided either loose cigarettes or vape items to the person. and then engaged in the sexual activity, which, you know, cigarettes and vapes are not controlled substances, obviously, but they're prohibited to convey into a county jail or any other penal facility,

and certainly it becomes a currency, which I think that's how the sheriff's office detected this. Other inmates were caught with either the vapes or the cigarettes, and they identified the source, and when they tracked it back, turned out to be this. a former judge. Yeah, and it's a value, as you said, it's a currency. It's something of value. And so somebody finds out in jail that, oh, somebody's got, you know, dip and vape pens. Somebody's got a tobacco product.

It's like, oh, my God, how can I get my hands on that? Well, you know, if they have drugs, then we'll trade those for drugs or actually for sexual favors within the prison. Interesting. What's so interesting to me about this is. that the sheriff who we just talked to said this may not be a one-off that there's an ongoing investigation into whether James Kenny used his Bar Association credentials to visit inmates at other correctional facilities in the area and then was having sexual contact potentially

with other friends as he posed as their lawyer so this could be bigger than just one or two, three, four instances at one jail. So does that up the ante? Because right now he's facing these misdemeanor charges of obstruction, soliciting prostitution, engaging in prostitution, things of that nature. Yes, I think the next logical step both within his jail and neighboring counties, I would expect to start with, would be checking the visitor logs and see who he has visited, whether he's their council, record and other similar visits at perhaps state correctional. State correctional is going to be very hard for him given the extent to which they shake you down in order to enter even when you're a lawyer visiting a client. I think it's maybe the looser restrictions at the county jail

that we're not going to detect it. What's really weird to me, too is that obviously there was some trust placed in this guy because he showed his attorney credential and you know he wasn't he obviously had this stuff in his pockets i mean they could have thought for all they knew that it was his that he's just somebody who dips and vapes and yet the allegation is that he was bringing that stuff in to you know pay off somebody to you know engage in a sex act with them they're in the jail Well, and they probably relied on the fact that he's a former judge in that county or in that area, they're going to give more credence to him as an individual.

When he shows up, they know he's a former judge, most likely they know he's an attorney. He shows a barcloth card, and they're going to maybe not go dot in all the eyes and crossing all the T's that they might otherwise do. Now, this former judge, Judge Kenny, it's not his first. brush with the law in a in a situation with a sex charge like in 2004 in neighboring hamilton county he was found guilty of um sexual imposition for an incident involving a man who was dating a family member um so he got probation in that instance so he flew under the radar for more than 20 years Well, that's what it looks like from the report that the sheriff's office filed in public records that were available, which certainly something I am positive that the Ohio Disciplinary Council immediately opened up a case to investigate his activity because he's using his status as a lawyer and his registration as an attorney to commit these acts of misconduct, as well as crimes or potential crimes. So I'm sure that they already have a case opened.

He's got a $150,000 bond. The judge set that bond. The investigation is ongoing. He hasn't been able to post that bond yet. So he's just sitting in jail as this investigation moves forward. Do you think that they're just working the case and maybe they're going to go to the grand jury? I mean, even though these are misdemeanors at this point, is there a world in which you see these potentially getting bumped up to felonies? Well, that's what they may look into a bit further. Certainly, I would, if I was the sheriff,

be looking at my personnel that didn't shape them down completely. And certainly in the other counties, if he visited there, looking at all of the surrounding circumstances, and there are potentially other charges, but that will unfold as the investigation does. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens. But yeah, just kind of stunning, a 75-year-old man being accused of this type of behavior. But, you know, I guess old habits potentially die hard. Thank you so much, Ron O'Brien. Appreciate your time.

Okay, very good to talk to you again. You too. So a judge set Kenny's bail at $150,000. He remains in jail as the investigation continues. So we'll keep an eye on it and let you know what happens. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Janelle Levy. Thanks so much for being with me.

I'll see you back here next time.