Sept. 07--A former state trooper has been sentenced to 74 months in prison in a case in which he gave a woman a pain pill and tried to get her to have sex with him.
Michael Fred Pennington will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, imposed Thursday by U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove.
A jury convicted Pennington last May of using a gun during a drug crime.
In September 2011, Pennington went with a social worker to a mobile home near Corbin to investigate a report of possible child abuse.
Pennington saw pain pills in a bedroom at the home, but he told Regina West that he would ignore the crime if she would have sex with him, West testified.
Pennington took the pills.
He returned to West's home about 3:45 a.m. the next day, while her husband was at work. By then, West had reported Pennington to other state police officers.
While officers hid in another room, Pennington gave West one of the pills he'd taken from her and told her she would not go to jail if she performed oral sex on him, according to court records.
The other officers came out and confronted Pennington.
When one asked Pennington what he was doing, he said he was making the biggest mistake of his life, an FBI agent said in one hearing.
Pennington had his gun at the time. That led to the charge of using a gun in a drug crime.
He also pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing drugs
Bill Estep: (606) 678-4655. Twitter: @billestep1
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