Phillip M. Bailey and Tom Loftus | Louisville Courier Journal

Billy Kobin, Louisville Courier Journal

The FBI is asking questions about the pardons Matt Bevin issued during his last weeks as Kentucky governor, The Courier Journal has learned.

State Rep. Chris Harris, D-Forest Hills, told reporters that a criminal investigator contacted him last week and asked what he knew about Bevin's pardons.

Harris did not elaborate on what questions were asked, and he declined to say which law enforcement agency contacted him.

"I can confirm that I have been contacted by someone looking into the pardons that were issued by Gov. Bevin on his way out the door," he said. "The impression I got is that there was an investigation ramping up."

Two sources with knowledge of the inquiry told The Courier Journal on Monday that an FBI agent had spoken with Harris. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the agency could "neither confirm nor deny the existence of said investigation" when reached late Monday night.

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Bevin has received national criticism for pardoning or commuting the sentences of more than 650 people following his failed reelection bid in November.

State prosecutors and leaders such as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have condemned several of Bevin's decisions, particularly his pardon of Patrick Baker, who had served two years of a 19-year sentence for reckless homicide and robbery in the slaying of a Knox County man in front of his family.

The Courier Journal reported on Dec. 11 that Baker's brother held a campaign fundraiser at his home for Bevin in July 2018 that raised $21,500. The former governor also received a letter from business executive Terry Forcht, one of the state’s Republican mega-donors, urging Bevin to pardon Baker.

Forcht has given at least $2.8 million to state and national political causes in the last 40 years, including more than $100,000 to Bevin's campaign and inauguration funds.

Bevin has welcomed an investigation and denied political gifts had anything to do with his pardons.

"You will see people subpoenaed, you will see people deposed, you will see people convicted," he predicted.

"If the truth comes out, there will be people involved in this process on the other side of the equation that have very good reason to be very concerned right now. And some of them are the loudest people right now, and for good reason."

Harris said an investigator called him on Dec. 17 and asked whether he knew anything more than what he had said at a press conference five days earlier. At that press conference, Harris and state Sen. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, called for state and federal investigators to look into Bevin's pardons.

"It may be a formal investigation or it may not be a formal investigation," Harris told The Courier Journal. "It may be just calling to see if there’s anything there to warrant a full investigation. ... I can tell you, at least, there are questions being asked.”

McGarvey, the Senate's Democratic floor leader, said he has not been contacted by investigators. But he said an investigation is needed.

"It's clear there was political favoritism involved in these pardons," McGarvey said Monday. "We have got to find out if the pardon power was abused and possibly sold to restore the public's trust in the system."

Baker proclaimed at his own Dec. 17 press conference that he was framed in the Knox County slaying by state troopers. But former state police Commissioner Rick Sanders said he conducted an internal investigation and told Bevin that "Baker was, in fact, guilty in that case."

On the defensive: Matt Bevin defends pardon of convicted child rapist in radio interview

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, also has condemned the pardons and called for an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Stivers has not returned phone calls or emails seeking comment.

Bevin has defended other controversial pardons in at least two interviews since The Courier Journal first reported on the Baker case and other commutations. He went into explicit detail during a radio interview Dec. 19 about the pardon of Micah Schoettle, 41, who was convicted of raping a 9-year-old girl.

Bevin said the case “was investigated and prosecuted in a manner that was sloppy at best." He said the victim's sister was present during the assaults but that the sister denied they took place. The former governor also said the girl could not have been raped because her hymen was intact.

"If you have been repeatedly sexually violated as a small child by an adult, there are going to be repercussions of that physically and medically," Bevin said.

Bevin's comments were criticized by medical professionals and victims' advocates.

According to Forensic Science International, a peer-reviewed journal, a survey of pediatric child abuse rape cases indicated that only 2.1% of subjects examined had visible lesions on the hymen.

Reporter Joe Sonka contributed to this story. Reach Phillip M. Bailey at pbailey@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4475. Follow him on Twitter at @phillipmbailey.

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Matt Bevin, Kentucky governor, through the years in photos

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