A federal judge sentenced a former Alabama trooper to a year in prison for coercing a 20-year-old college student into performing sex acts, the FBI announced.
U.S. District Judge Virginia E. Hopkins sentenced Keith Wilson Kelley, 51, to the maximum prison term under the misdemeanor charge of depriving a person’s civil rights under the color of law or while acting in the official capacity of a police officer. Kelley must serve one year of supervised release following completion of his prison term. He pleaded guilty in December.
Kelley was a captain with the state troopers in September 2007 when the incident occurred in Shelby County. Kelley was behind the young woman in line at a self-service check-out at a discount department store in Pelham. He saw that she did not scan and pay for all the items she took from the store. Kelley followed her to her car, showed his badge, and took her name and phone number. Kelley told the woman that he would see how the store wanted to handle the matter and would be in touch. He later called her, said the store was leaving the matter to him, and that he wanted her to meet him at a gas station.
Kelley was in his patrol car when the woman met him. He searched her for a wire, told her she would be convicted of a felony, but that he could make the case go away. He then coerced her into performing sex acts. The woman reported the incident to the Pelham Police Department.
