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Boone Commonwealth’s Attorney seeks damages from fired employee; says he shared personal info


By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor

Boone County Commonwealth’s Attorney Linda Tally Smith is seeking damages from a former employee she says took personal information from her office and attempted to use it to blackmail her into letting him keep his job.

Linda Tally Smith

Linda Tally Smith

District Court Judge Jeffrey Smith, Tally Smith’s husband, is also a plaintiff in the case.

A portion of the information, which was reportedly shared with the The Kentucky Office of the Attorney General, has raised questions about Talley Smith’s conduct in the high-profile David Dooley murder trial, in which she was the prosecutor.

Dooley, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in the killing of Michelle Mockbee, has maintained his innocence.

Nick Ramler is accused of taking a storage device, commonly referred to as a thumb drive, containing the personal information of Tally Smith, Jeff Smith, and other employees in the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.

Ramler, whose employment was terminated on September 2, according to court documents, has been identified by his attorney as a whistleblower in the Dooley murder trial.

Tally Smith filed the complaint and motion for injunctive relief October 20.

According to court documents, Tally Smith asserts that, while employed as a full-time law clerk, Ramler “improperly and without authorization” accessed personal computer files. The files included co-workers’ personal health care information, large quantities of which Ramler copied and took from the office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney.

Tally Smith also claims in the filing that Ramler attempted to blatantly “blackmail and/or extort, and/or threat(en) to further disseminate the information he had learned if she took any personnel action against him.

Tally Smith states that during the Sept. 2 meeting she spoke with Ramler to discuss his poor work performance and indicated that his status would be decreased to part-time.

Talley Smith indicates in the filing that Ramler became “incensed, belligerent and argumentative,” at which time his employment was terminated as a result of his behavior and poor work performance.

According to the filing, Ramler mentioned that he had found and shared “highly personal and confidential” information belonging to Tally Smith. In the court record, Tally Smith indicates that Ramler told her that, because he possessed the information, there would be no change in his employment status.

Tally Smith alleges that Ramler shared data from the thumb drive with attorney Steve Wolnitzek. The suit further alleges that Wolnitzek submitted an extremely small portion of the data to the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office (OAG) and others.

The filing indicates that because the data submitted is a small portion of a much larger file, the statements made are out of context, creating an inflammatory and untrue appearance.

The suit contends that Wolnitzek provided copies of the illegally obtained information to others, which has caused and continues to cause the Smiths “emotional distress and humiliation.”

Dooley (file photo)

Dooley (file photo)

The information shared with the OAG is reportedly related to Talley Smith’s handling of the Dooley murder case.

In 2014, Dooley was convicted of killing Mockbee, a Fort Mitchell mother of two young girls and a coworker at Thermo Fischer Scientific in Boone County.

Mockbee was bludgeoned to death outside of her office in the company’s facility at the Northern Kentucky Industrial Park in May, 2012.

The information on the thumb drive shared with the OAG is alleged to contain email and text messages between Tally Smith and Bruce McVay, the lead detective in the Dooley case.

The information reportedly indicates Tally Smith may have accused McVay of lying in those messages and that evidence that could have helped Dooley put on a defense was withheld from his attorneys.

The filing indicates Ramler obtained the file in March and reviewed them while an employee of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, but it was not shared with the OAG’s office until after he was terminated.

The Smith’s complaint and motion for injunctive relief was presented to Boone Circuit Court Judge James R. Schrand, who has recused himself because he presided over Dooley’s murder trial.

Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytribune.com


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One Comment

  1. KM says:

    WXIX FOX 19 has the SoundCloud secret recordings. NO blackmail attempt noted. Chiquita Queen needs to keep her clothes on and do her damn job. Better yet….resign. Filings for new trials where she and McVay worked together is going to costs the county and/or state plenty. Not to mention if the Dooley’s and the Ramler’s file suit. A regular Peyton Place……and aired nationally on Dateline for all to see

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