Evan Vitale Consulting: CRAWFORD | Commonwealth's Attorney consulting with police over crimes against …

Monday, October 5, 2015

CRAWFORD | Commonwealth's Attorney consulting with police over crimes against … – WDRB

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — While the University of Louisville basketball program is dealing with Katina Powell’s allegations that former director of basketball operations Andre McGee hired her to provide escort services for recruits and players over a four-year period, the question also has arisen in the wake of her tell-all book: Could Powell face prosecution?

Commonwealth’s Attorney Thomas Wine says his office is in consultation with the University of Louisville Police Department and the Louisville Metro Police Department Crimes Against Children Unit regarding the possible criminal violations revealed in her book, “Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen.”

In the book, Powell admits to getting her daughters, one age 15 and another age 17, involved in the escort trade.

“The allegations of criminal activity contained in this book cause grave concern to me and this community,” Wine said in a statement emailed to WDRB. “If my office receives credible evidence of sexual abuse or other criminal activity involving minor children, we will vigorously prosecute those responsible for the crimes.”

It will be up to police organizations, particularly the University of Louisville Police Department or LMPD, to determine whether enough evidence can be gathered to pursue a charge.

Jeff Cooke, a spokesman for the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office said Monday morning that just confessing to a crime in a book isn’t necessarily actionable.

“An unsworn allegation isn’t enough,” he said.

While the confession of prostitution activities is a crime, Cooke acknowledged that the Commonwealth Attorney would be more attuned to any crime that involved a minor.

“The most serious activities we see are the use of her minor children in prostitution,” he said. “That is very serious. We take any cases involving minors very seriously. We’ve prosecuted cases this year involving parents, step-parents, grandparents, teachers. If there’s substantial evidence that corroborates what she says, I feel certain that anybody that brought forth evidence of crimes involving children we’re going to take very, very seriously.”

An LMPD spokesperson said that it has been in conversations with U of L police. U of L police haven’t returned messages from WDRB.

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