By Dina Kaplan, WAVE-TV3 News (Louisville, Ken.)
A grand jury formally indicted Louisville police officer Billy Ray White Tuesday for raping one woman and threatening another. Meanwhile, WAVE 3 has uncovered information about White’s past that casts doubts on whether he should have ever been hired as a police officer in the first place.
His job was enforcing the law, but Metro Police Officer Billy Ray White is now charged with breaking the law seven times himself.
In January, White was charged with raping a woman in Louisville, and a grand jury indicted him on that charge Tuesday. Grand jurors also heard about another victim as well. She told WAVE 3 News that White arrested her for shoplifting, but never pursued the charges.
Instead, Prosecutor Alex Daythorn says White “engaged in inappropriate behavior with that potential defendant.” Daythorn did say the inappropriate behavior was of a sexual nature.
The alleged victim told WAVE 3 she was “vulnerable” and “in a spot.” White was also indicted in that case, for intimidating a participant in the legal process, official misconduct and other charges.
More charges may follow.
Prosecutors and the FBI are still looking into White’s background, but WAVE 3 has obtained a copy of his application to the police department. On it, he listed three prior jobs, including one at UPS, which he left because of, in his words, “time card violations” and “personnel reasons.”
Law enforcement officials say White was terminated from other jobs as well. Asked if that should have raised red flags when he applied to the police department, police spokeswoman Helene Kramer says White was hired before the current police chief took office. “I can’t speak to that. We weren’t a part of that administration or that decision-making process.
Police recently hired a new person to head up recruitment efforts.
Asked if police made a mistake hiring officer White, Daythorn would only say “it’s their call -- somebody may have slipped through the cracks. I don’t know.”