Attorney General Coleman Secures Guilty Verdict in Sexual Assault Case Involving Former Pastor

FRANKFORT, Ky.  (March 21, 2025) - Attorney General Russell Coleman announced today an Estill County jury delivered a guilty verdict in a decades-old sexual assault case involving an Irvine pastor. The Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Unit brought the case.

On Wednesday, the jury convicted Samuel McKinney, 60, on the charge of Rape First Degree against a child under 12 years of age (Class A Felony).

The victim alleged the abuse occurred about once a month from May 1982 to December 1985 and stopped when she was about eleven years old. The woman, now 50, reported the abuse in 2023 after learning her abuser was a pastor at an Irvine church. 

The jury recommended a sentence of 20 years. Under Kentucky’s law, McKinney will be required to serve 85% of the sentence before he is eligible for parole. McKinney will also be required to register as a Sex Offender for the rest of his life. He will be sentenced June 3, 2025.

McKinney has since left the church he pastored.

“In our Commonwealth, there is no statute of limitations for felony charges, which allowed this courageous woman to come forward and report her abuse after all these years,” said Attorney General Coleman. “Her bravery was critical to putting this criminal behind bars, and we hope her example will encourage others in similar situations to come forward.”

Retired Detective Luke VanHoose of the Kentucky State Police investigated.  Assistant Attorneys General Todd Willard and Lindsey Studebaker prosecuted the case on behalf of the Commonwealth. Aaron Ash with the Attorney General’s Office of Victims Advocacy provided services to the victim.