Criminal Justice

Defendant claims prosecutor tried to revoke her probation after she told his wife of their affair

A Kentucky woman claims the man who prosecuted her for drug trafficking sought to revoke her probation after she ended their affair and revealed her pregnancy.

Motions filed on behalf of Latisha Lashley Sartain allege she became pregnant as a result of a two-month affair with Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Leveridge, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. The motion alleges that Leveridge filed a motion to revoke her probation on June 12 after she ended the relationship and revealed her pregnancy to Leveridge’s wife.

Sartain’s lawyer, Larry Rogers, told the newspaper he has copies of text messages between Sartain and Leveridge.

Leveridge said he sought to revoke Sartain’s probation because of a pending misdemeanor shoplifting charge. He has since disqualified himself in Sartain’s case, and the motion has been withdrawn. Leveridge received an award from the state attorney general in 2012 recognizing him as the year’s outstanding commonwealth’s attorney.

Leveridge’s wife, lawyer Bernadette Leveridge, has filed for divorce. The divorce case includes a purported transcript of the phone conversation she had with Sartain, the story says. According to the transcript, Sartain said she informed Matthew Leveridge of the pregnancy by text message. “I told him I was so sorry,” Sartain says in the transcript, “and he says, ‘It’s not your fault, I guess I should’ve kept it in my pants.’ “

Leveridge told the Lexington Herald-Leader that he has no comment. “I’ll have things to say in the appropriate forums before the appropriate people,” he said.