Law targeting sextortion takes effect in Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WKYT) - Several new Kentucky laws took effect on Friday. Among them was Senate Bill 73.

It’s a comprehensive law aimed at combating sexual extortion and protecting Kentucky’s most vulnerable.

“The bill represents a bold step forward in our efforts to combat exploitation and uphold justice in the Commonwealth,” said Detective Ricky Lynn with the Frankfort Police Department.

Lynn also serves as the chair of the Kentucky Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force.

“Today marks an important milestone for an ongoing fight to protect our families and our children across the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Lynn.

Lynn says Senate Bill 73 is the first Kentucky law to address grooming. It’s something he says law enforcement has long hoped for.

“We, for a long time, have been remiss in not having a way to charge predators that started the grooming process. For the trafficking part of it, we have great laws, but for the grooming part of it and the trying to exploit people, we’ve never had a law like this,” said Lynn.

Senator Julie Raque Adams sponsored SB 73. She was among a large group that gathered in Frankfurt on Friday to celebrate the law.

“Senate Bill 73 was written to break that silence and to give our kids and their families the tools they need to recognize, report, and resist these threats,” said Adams. “I may have filed it, but it’s the courage and persistence of survivors, parents, and advocates that brought it to life.”

Adams explains the bill criminalizes sextortion, with harsher penalties when minors are targeted. It empowers survivors to seek civil justice against those who harm them, and it requires schools and colleges to educate students and families, post critical signs and resources, and make help more visible and accessible statewide.

“It has some flaws in it, of course, as any legislative piece does, and one of those is that we don’t really have the funding to do the campaigning that we would like to have, so, that’s why all of us need to do our part in launching this bill,” said director of programs for PATH Coalition of Kentucky, Jaime Thompson.

Thompson says that includes making it normal to discuss sextortion with young people and making sure they know they’re a victim of a crime, even if they made a mistake.

She says among the resources provided to them should be the suicide and crisis hotline, as the FBI has reported many cases where kids in online sextortion cases take their own lives.

Jennifer Beagle is the president and founder of Her Hope Kentucky.

“I’m a survivor of sex trafficking for years,” said Beagle.

Now, she goes into schools to educate students about sex trafficking and sextortion.

“At least 50 percent of the students come up to us afterwards and say that this has happened to them, but they’re too scared to say anything about it, which is very common in youth today,” said Beagle.

That’s why advocates at Friday’s event say it’s crucial to get resources into the hands of young people.