Arrested: Lieutenant Governor candidate Johnathan Masters was booked this week - apparently over an overdue library book

A candidate hoping to be elected Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky claims he was arrested for not returning an overdue library book.

Johnathan Masters, 33, was pulled over by a state trooper on Wednesday and apparently taken to jail over a book he withdrew 11 years ago.

Masters - who says the charge is nonsense - claims the officer initially pulled him over for having expired tax stickers on his car

An online booking record for Masters says only that he was arrested for an outstanding warrant.

But he says he was told the reason was a theft charge, linked to allegedly borrowing the book and never giving it back, the Huffington Post reported.

Masters denies the apparent charge - theft by failure to make required disposition of property - and says he will clear his name in court.

Defending himself to Fox News, he said he had never even withdrawn a library book in Kenton County, where he claims the charge originates.

Of the arrest, Masters said: 'I thought he was going to let me go because he was real friendly, but then he went back to his patrol car and was gone for about 15 minutes.

'When he came back, he asked me, "Did you take out a library book 11 years ago?"

'I started to laugh, but he said, "This is serious!" and he took me to jail for three hours. I plan to fight the charges.'

Masters was let out of jail after paying a $100 bond, and is expected to appear in court later this month.

He has been beset by legal troubles since his candidacy emerged. He is the running-mate of Geoff Young, who mounted a failed bid for Congress in 2014.

Governor's race: Masters is running with Geoff Young, left, in the Democratic primary against front-runner Jack Conway, the state's Attorney General (right)

The two hope to defeat front runner Jack Conway, the state Attorney General, in the Democratic primary elections this May.

As part of his campaign, Young issued a lawsuit against Conway and other leading Democrats, accusing them of ignoring his campaign to secure victory in the primary. In the legal complaint he compares incumbent governor Steve Beshear to Stalin.

Should they win, they would then face the Republican candidate in November's general election.

According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Masters is also waiting for his day in court on harassment charges.

He is accused of making expletive-laden calls to an associate dean at Spalding University, demanding his money back after being kicked out of the school.

The paper also reported that there is a pending arrest warrant over claims he threatened to beat up a principal after being told he couldn't enter a school to conduct a survey.

He reportedly yelled 'come out here so I can kick your ass' in the December 17 visit. He has yet to be served with the warrant in the second case.

Masters runs a political blog called The Freedom Skool. His entries include several long posts about the medicinal benefits of marijuana, and a string of multi-colored, edited photographs of his running-mate.

In response to the harassment charges, Patrick Hughes, chairman of the Kentucky Democrats, told the Courier-Journal that Masters and Young 'don't have a snowball's chance' of victory.