A former Kentucky prosecutor has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison for his conviction in a case in which he solicited sexually explicit images from a woman and helped her on her criminal charges.

The sentence for Ronnie Goldy was the maximum under advisory guidelines.

Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves sentenced Goldy in federal court in Lexington Friday.

Reeves said Goldy violated the trust voters placed in him by electing him to prosecute crimes.

“This was a very serious white-collar offense,” Reeves said at the hearing. “He’s not shown respect for the law by his actions.”

Goldy, 52, was commonwealth’s attorney for Rowan, Bath, Menifee and Montgomery counties from 2013 until he resigned in February 2023 as state lawmakers considered whether to remove him from office.

The Senate went on to unanimously convict Goldy in March, the first impeachment hearing and trial conducted in the Kentucky Senate in 135 years.

Federal authorities accused him of doing favors for Misty Helton, a woman with an extensive record of criminal charges that included receiving stolen property, theft, assault and drug trafficking.

Among other things, Goldy allegedly lied to a state judge in seeking Helton’s release from jail; pushed to get her car released after it was impounded in a criminal case; got court dates continued for her; and suggested to another prosecutor that he reduce a drug charge against Helton.

In return, Goldy repeatedly asked Helton to send him nude photos and explicit videos of herself, a grand jury charged.

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