Kentucky man allegedly rapes child; flees in stolen car

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky police say a man suspected of raping a 13-year-old child was arrested after trying to get away in a stolen car.

News outlets report 43-year-old Terrance Suter was caught and arrested Saturday after he lost control of the car and crashed into a wall.

Lexington Police Spokeswoman Brenna Angel says officers were looking for Suter in connection with a rape that happened earlier Saturday. They found him at a gas station, but he fled at high speeds, nearly hitting three officers on a different call.

Suter is charged with a slew of crimes including rape, sodomy and evading police. Suter also had an active warrant for a burglary in February.

It is unclear whether Suter has an attorney.

Bourbon spill from fire making way to Ohio River

VERSAILLES, Ky. (AP) — Bourbon that leaked from a fire that destroyed a Jim Beam barrel warehouse in Kentucky is making its way to the Ohio River.

State environmental officials say they’re assessing wildlife impacts and doing fish kill counts along the waterways near the Woodford County facility.

The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet says in a release on social media that an “alcohol plume” from the bourbon runoff in the Kentucky River is approximately 23 miles (37 kilometers) long.

The cabinet says the bourbon should dissipate very quickly once it reaches the much larger body of water.

Officials estimate about 45,000 barrels of bourbon were destroyed in the fire that started Tuesday. It was extinguished over the weekend.

Kentucky city’s chamber raises money to promote job growth

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The chamber of commerce for Kentucky’s largest city says it has raised about $6 million for a campaign to promote regional economic development and attract jobs and business.

Greater Louisville Inc. says its 2020 campaign goal is to raise $7.5 million.

A release from the agency says more than 160 companies have contributed to the campaign. The Greater Louisville 2020 campaign is chaired by Bill Samuels Jr., chairman emeritus of Makers Mark Distillery; Evelyn Strange, president of Advanced Electrical Systems and Ed Glasscock, chairman emeritus of Frost Brown Todd.

The campaign calls for the attraction of 5,000 new high-wage jobs and another 6,000 induced jobs. Campaign leaders say the funding allocations will be directed by donors or granting organizations.

Pilot receives minor injuries in Kentucky helicopter crash

FRANKLIN, Ky. (AP) — Police say an agricultural helicopter pilot has been injured in a crash in a Kentucky cornfield.

Kentucky State Police said Anthonie Christoffel Vos was operating a 1973 Tomcat helicopter during agricultural spraying on Monday when the aircraft crashed.

Vos, of Sevierville, Tennessee, was treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

Simpson County Emergency Management Director Robert Palmer said searchers faced several challenges as they tried to find the helicopter. Palmer said the field where the helicopter crashed was about 80 acres (32 hectares) large. WBKO-TV reports that officials used drones to search the field, which has corn nearly 10 feet tall.

State police said in a news release that Federal Aviation Administration investigators are going to the scene.

Ex-officer admits to sexually abusing kids in youth program

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A former Kentucky police officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing two minors in the Louisville department’s now defunct youth program.

The Courier Journal reports Kenneth Betts pleaded guilty in state court Monday to third-degree sodomy and admitted to sexually abusing the minors while he worked as a program adviser.

His plea marked the end of the second criminal case stemming from sexual abuse in the program. He was sentenced in federal court last week to 16 years in prison for charges including enticement and child pornography. Betts said he exploited four minors he met through the program. The sentences will be served at the same time.

Betts resigned from the department in 2014 amid an investigation of “improper contact” with a female program member.