Former mayor Everette Varney said he knew police chief Mike Bosse was in trouble when Burney Jenkins was elected Georgetown mayor.
“When I heard the election results, I told Nancy (Varney’s wife), Bosse is in trouble,” Varney said. “I knew because of the stepson thing that Bosse was likely to be gone.”
Just six days into Jenkins’ administration and with little explanation, Bosse, 41-year law enforcement veteran including 10 years in Georgetown was removed from office. Bosse had served as Georgetown police chief since 2012 and was hired by then-mayor Varney. When Varney hired Bosse the Georgetown Police Department was mired in controversy, chaos and internal squabbling. The GPD is now often described as a premier law enforcement agency and one of the finest police departments in Kentucky, by other law enforcement agencies and public officials.
Since the firing, the News-Graphic and other media have learned Jenkins once attempted to help his stepson, Joshua Preece, get hired by GPD. In March 2022, Preece, who lived in Morehead, was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography. Preece is now 40 years old.
As far as Jenkins said he knew, the reason his stepson was not hired is because he did not pass the qualifications test given by GPD for new hires.
“That was it,” Jenkins said. “My stepson did not meet the qualifications necessary to be hired by the police department. That’s all we knew and my stepson returned to his home in Morehead. He never lived here.
“I am deeply disappointed that (Varney) would say something like that. One does not have anything to do with the other. I am not that way. I am not a vindictive person, and anyone who knows me knows that is not the kind of person I am. I do wish people would quit bringing this up, so we can move on. If people keep talking, it makes it tough to move on. Because of legal reasons I can’t get into why someone was removed, but I just wanted to move into a different direction. This happens all the time when administrations change.”
The friendship between Varney and Jenkins goes way back. They were both teachers and coaches with the Scott County Schools system, and over the years developed a strong friendship, Varney said.
“We have been great, great friends all the way through the years,” said the former mayor. “We are still great friends. I’m excited for Burney and I’m supporting him. I want him to be a successful mayor.”
But Varney said he is haunted by what happened years ago, and how it may have cost Bosse his job.
“Mike Bosse was the best hire I ever made,” Varney said. “From his first day on the job, Chief Bosse did a fine job. I can’t say enough good things about what he did as our city’s police chief.”
The exact timeline is unclear, but sometime during Varney’s ill-fated mayoral campaign against Tom Prather, Jenkins approached Varney about his stepson.
“Burney came to see me at my house,” Varney said. “He asked if we could hire his stepson at the police department. If we had openings and a candidate came forward, I would refer them to the supervisors. After all, they were going to be the ones to work with them.
“I was curious because Burney’s stepson — I don’t think I ever heard his name — was a Kentucky State Trooper with 10 years in. He was halfway to retirement, so I didn’t understand why he would want to give that up to work for a city police department. But I left it up to Bosse.”
Bosse said he was alerted to interview Jenkins’ stepson “on the spot.”
“Mr. Jenkins did bring his stepson to the police department several years ago and said he had spoken to then Mayor Varney who said I should interview the stepson on the spot because he was a state trooper who wanted to work for GPD,” Bosse said. “An interview was done at the time.
“Mr. Preece clearly had serious issues. Calls to others in KSP confirmed my concerns. He was not hired and (HR Director Megan Miller) supported my decision. I do not recall any further conversation with Mr. Jenkins (about the matter).”
Bosse alerted Varney that he would not be hiring Preece and explained why, both men agreed in separate interviews. Bosse said beyond requiring the interview, Varney never applied pressure to hire Preece. But Varney said he soon felt Jenkins was unhappy with the interview results.
“There was never anything verbal, but I had a campaign sign in Burney’s yard that immediately disappeared,” Varney said about Jenkins’ reaction. An effort was made to replace the sign, which was turned down, he said. Then he learned Jenkins and his family were campaigning against him.
The two men have since renewed their friendship, but Varney said he is certain Bosse’s removal as police chief goes back to that day years ago when Preece’s job overtures were turned down.
“There is no doubt in my mind that Bosse was fired because he did not hire Burney’s stepson,” Varney said
In Preece’s plea agreement, dated Nov. 5, 2018, he admits to answering a call about a minor victim who was acting out of control. After responding, it was determined the victim and her mother should spend the night apart and Preece agreed to take the victim to a friend’s home. On the way to the friend’s house, the victim said Preece drove to a remote barn in Bath County where he sexually assaulted her, according to the victim’s statement in court records. Later, Preece requested sexually explicit photos from the victim via Snapchat.
Law enforcement confiscated Preece’s phone and found multiple sexually explicit photos, court records state. In Oct. 2021, Preece entered a guilty plea. Under federal law, Preece must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence, which is 21 and a quarter years, and upon his release Preece will remain under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for life.
“The conduct in this case is simply disgraceful,” said Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “The offense itself — a brazen act of child exploitation and abuse — is abhorrent, but the fact that he did it while he was a law enforcement officer makes it even more so.
“He abused a vulnerable victim, while also betraying a public trust and doing disservice to the dedicated efforts of all law enforcement. I am grateful for hard work of our law enforcement partners, whose victims made this prosecution possible.
U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell presided. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and KSP.
The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative combating child exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2008 by the U.S. Department of Justice.
At the time of Preece’s interview with Bosse and GPD, he was employed as a state trooper, but was under review. A report by LEX 18 found Preece resigned from KSP when it was discovered he was contacting women for sex using phone numbers he got as a result of calls the women made to law enforcement. It was also discovered Preece had a “sexual texting relationship” with a woman who he knew had a warrant out for her arrest and made no effort to arrest her, states the WLEX report. During the investigation, Preece was found to have similar texting relationships with two female inmates.
Preece resigned from KSP on the day he was informed that he would be fired and was later hired by the Bath County Sheriff’s Department. It was apparently during this time frame Preece sought a job with GPD and the interview with Bosse.
With Preece as an example, Bosse was instrumental in the passage of Senate Bill 80 in 2021 making it easier to flag law enforcement officers who leave one law enforcement agency when they get into trouble and seek to be hired at another law enforcement agency.
The law gives the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council (KLEC) more power to decertify corrupt law officers and inform law enforcement agencies of potential new hires’ previous issues.
“It is not a perfect system and sometimes we fail to identify a problem,” Bosse told WLEX about Senate Bill 80 upon its passage. “But when we do identify a problem, there should be a process that keeps that person from wearing a badge, simply because of the amount of responsibility that comes with the job, and law enforcement supports that.”
Before the law was passed, officers suspected of misconduct could resign before an internal investigation is completed or before the officer could be fired. Now, law enforcement agencies are required to turn over any such information to KLEC on pending internal investigations on officers who quit or are fired.
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