Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Deters pleaded guilty to charges of menacing and harassing communications involving allegedly having a run-in with his juvenile nephew on a farm in Independence in October.
The judge dropped one charge of trespassing, but Deters agreed to one charge of menacing and two counts of harassing communications.
As part of his guilty plea, Deters would face 90 days in jail per count if he violates the protective order or tries to contact his nephew, brother, or sister-in-law within two years. He also can’t publicly disparage his family to the media.
“After the presentation of the prosecutor’s case, I decided to plead guilty,” Deters said.
Deters further said he decided to plead guilty to menacing and harassing communications because he felt he was guilty.
“I admitted to the police officers that I did want to scare him,” Deters said, elaborating that wants to put this behind him.
“These are misdemeanors,” Deters said. “They’re not felonies. They do not affect any way shape or form, my ability to run for governor.”
The criminal complaint filed in Kenton County in October alleged that Deters’ nephew called the police because Deters was chasing him in his truck on a family farm owned by Deters’ brother — the brother banned Deters from the farm in 2020.
Deters’ nephew told police that when he arrived at the farm to hunt, Deters was near the mailboxes on Green Road. The nephew alleges that Deters was staring at him, and the nephew flipped him off. That’s when Eric Deters started to chase his nephew down the paved driveway in his truck through Sugar Ridge Farm. The nephew called his father, who then called the police.
A witness on the property said that a dark pickup truck was following the nephew across the farm property and got within a couple of feet of the truck. Security video footage showed that Deters drove behind his nephew’s truck and drove parallel to his truck across dirt roads that traverse the fields.
“[The nephew] stated that he purposefully drove past security cameras on the property for his own safety as he was being chased,” the police report reads.
Officers later contacted Eric Deters at his residence adjacent to the farm.
“Deters corroborated [the nephew’s] version of events,” the report reads.
“…after he flipped me off, I followed him. The little chickensh** wouldn’t get out of his truck,” Deters stated to police. “… he’s lucky he didn’t get his a** kicked.”