Voices for Voices®

From Harassment To Courtroom Retaliation: One Woman’s Fight Against Local Power | Ep 366

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 366

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From Harassment To Courtroom Retaliation: One Woman’s Fight Against Local Power | Ep 366

The story begins with a restart—Gemma Bentley returned to Kentucky, earned a 4.0 in criminal justice, and stepped into public service—then collided with the kind of power most people only whisper about. She recounts alleged harassment by a courthouse official, the pressure to “play along,” and the quiet survival tactics that follow when saying no places a target on your back. What unfolds is a rare, unfiltered view of small-town justice: how a civil property dispute morphed into a criminal warrant, how cases get steered by relationships, and why dismissals don’t undo the damage of being dragged through the process.

We walk with Gemma through the mechanics of fighting back. She documents everything—video, messages, witnesses—and still watches a strong theft case dissolve after a grand jury pass. She asks about conflicts, seeks a special prosecutor, and learns how procedural choices can decide outcomes before facts get heard. When her daughter reports being fondled by a relative, a charge is labeled as sex trafficking; the mismatch triggers a grueling interview process and, ultimately, a dropped case. The lesson is precise and practical: words matter. Mischarge a case and you build failure into the file.

Gemma refuses euphemisms. Don’t call it “corruption,” she argues—call it crime. Officials take an oath; when they break it, they should face criminal accountability. Along the way we share actionable takeaways: how to tell civil from criminal in domestic disputes, when to ask for mediation, why to request a special prosecutor, and how to build a durable record. It’s a gripping, grounded conversation about harassment, retaliation, grand jury limits, protective orders used as weapons, and the power of knowing the law.

If this resonates, hit follow, share this story with a friend who needs backup, and leave a review so more people can find it. Your voice helps protect someone else’s.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Welcome And How To Listen Free

1:52 Guest Introduction And Topic Framing

2:43 Timeline: Return To Kentucky And College

5:29 Alleged Harassment At The Courthouse

7:42 Criminal Warrant Over A Civil Dispute

10:27 Pushing Back And Case Dismissed

12:43 Advice On Domestic Cases And Rights

14:07 Robbery Case And Special Prosecutor

18:20 Grand Jury Disappointment And Conflicts

20:30 Daughter’s Allegation And System Failures

24:05 EPO, Bank Account Loss, And Retaliation

27:28 Divorce Court Injustices And Bias

30:05 Persistence, Credentials, And Retaliation

33:15 Empowerment: Learn The Law And Resist

36:58 Hosts’ Reflections And Thanks

39:30 Final Message: Call It Crime, Not Corruption

#HarassmentSurvivor #MeTooMovement #CourtroomDrama #WomenEmpowerment #JusticeForAll #LocalPowerAbuse #LegalFight #EmpoweredWomen #RetaliationStories #SpeakUpAgainstAbuse #TrueStoryInCourt #SupportSurvivors #CourageToFightBack #AccountabilityMatters #CivilRightsAdvocacy #OvercomingObstacles #VoicesOfResistance #justiceforsurvivors #justice4survivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #Jesusaire #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices366

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Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Hey everyone, it's Justin with Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the show. Whether you're here in the United States or uh in any of the 90 plus countries, uh 900 cities across the world, uh territories, provinces, uh, we are grateful to have you with us, uh, whether this is your first episode or whether you have been with us from the beginning, over 360 episodes in our catalog. Uh, if you can do us a big favor that it's free to do, you can hit that subscribe button, like, follow, share, give us a big thumbs up, we would greatly appreciate that. And uh thank you so much for tuning in and watching and listening, no matter where you are. And if you are in uh places that are uh remote uh and and hard to get different apps, but you're able to get internet connection. Uh the best way to uh get our audio version of our uh of our show, you can head on over to voicesforvoices.org/podcast. And the best thing about that is not only is it free, but uh the most uh the newest episode, the latest and greatest that we have, uh, is there at the top, so you don't have to do a lot of scrolling, uh, which sometimes happens with uh some of these bigger uh apps uh like Spotify and Amazon Music and Apple and all that. So we're gonna hop on into to uh this particular episode. Uh we are uh grateful for our guests to spend time with us. Um it's it's under kind of unfortunate uh uh circumstances of what we're gonna be talking about, but we're gonna be uh diving into some of the uh uh uh legend abuse uh uh taking advantage of people. Uh you've probably seen or heard our uh episodes with uh Taya and Brandy and Bethany uh so far, and we have uh many more to come. Yes, I want to introduce our our guest, uh Gemma Bentley. Thank you so much for joining us on the show today.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

Uh thank you for having me.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Absolutely. Well, I'll I'll leave the floor to you um if you want to maybe talk a little bit about like a little timeline of um uh as uh you you you started to find out uh about what what's going on, what's has been going on in in Lecture County, and then we can uh work our way towards you know present day and what what the feeling is uh you know from you and in the community with uh what what uh what has happened.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

Well, um I moved back to Kentucky 13 years ago in uh 20 uh twelve. I remembered why I left Kentucky for 30 years real fast, and somebody said, Well, you know, you can go to college. And I'm thinking, oh great. The teachers passed me just to get me out of high school. So I had two young children, and I moved I when I moved back here, um, I went to college. Um, I graduated from Southeast Community and Technical College with a 4.0 injustice. Thank you. In my 50s, but um uh in 2017, um I worked for a program that was just a two-year program um that was called Paths to Promise. And the lady who was my boss um did not want me to work on campus like I had done for Ready to Work program. So um she wanted me to find a place to go. So I had known Kevin since I'd been here, um, out in public, uh, different functions that I did in the pu in the community, um, the Civil War reenactments, the different festivals, and so forth and so on. So I did know who Kevin was. So I went over to the courthouse and I asked Kevin Mullins if um he cared if I done my two-year program working in his office. He agreed. And um, so that was in 2017. Um, so I was working there for a little while, and uh I think it might have been during the spring months that I had to do this, okay? So I'd been working there, and at Christmas um time, you know, then we have our break, you know, everything's closed down Christmas, and then we all return back to work. Okay. During before the Christmas break, Kevin Muns had hit on me. Um came to me. He would come out and massage my shoulders, and I'd ask him not to do that because I felt very uncomfortable. Um, another time he came out and put his hand on my breast, and I took his hand down and I asked him not to do that. Another time he came out and actually put his hand on my crotch area, and I took his hand and I moved his hand and I told him not to do that no more. I said, um, this ain't going, I said, you just can't do this. This ain't gonna happen. And he says, Well, you know, you could come into my office, and he said, um, anytime he said, we can have some fun. And I looked at him and I said, Well, I just don't think that my boyfriend would appreciate that very much. And none of them liked my boyfriend because he was untouchable and and uh owned his own business. And uh, so we take our breath, then later we take our break, and then I'd make sure that I left before the secretary. When the secretary leaves, I didn't put in my full hours. I'm sorry, it's true. He signed off on it though, but I would make sure that I left.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

Okay. Uh when she did. I did not want him to, I did not want to be in the courthouse alone with him. Okay, so when we came back from our Christmas break, I had purchased a home in May before that, that May. I graduated from that and I was going to EK working for EKU in 2018. Okay, so um, I bought a home and I moved out of that guy's house that I was living with and moved over here. Okay. When I did this, the guy had come to the judge or to Jamie Hatton. Now that's who I really want to talk about. It's Jamie Hatton, Matt Butler, and Daniel Dotson. Kevin's dead. But so when we came back from break, the judge calls me into his office, and I'm like, oh god. So I made sure I did not close the door. Okay. Because I had op tried to open the door when a girl had gone in there because he had gotten a phone call that he needed to take. The door was locked. So I just went back to my little desk and I sat back down. So, anyways, he I go in there and he says, he informs me that he has uh a warrant for my arrest, a criminal warrant. And I said, for what? He said, Well, he said, Greg, now he knows Greg too, my ex and he knew me. And uh, so he says, I saw he said, I've had this all laying on my desk for a couple of months. He said, but I I had to go ahead and sign it. And I said, but for what? And he tells me that Greg went down to Jamie Hatton's office and told them that I stole stuff when I left him. I said, I didn't steal nothing. I said he was stealing from me. He took stuff that he was going through my stuff when I'm packing it. He he wouldn't let me have the vehicle that I had purchased. He wouldn't let me have my own microwave that I brought here. When I moved into that man's home in 2012, he had a bedroom suit and a recliner. He had his cast iron stuff. He had nothing else, no towels, no dishes, no silverware, no curtains, no curtain rods, nothing. When I left, I left it all. Everything, furniture and all. All I took was what I wanted to put in my home. And I had plenty because I I had a lot. I'm a collector from antiques and stuff. But he was going through my stuff and taking it. So I said, Well, what am I supposed to do? And he says, Well, just take this down to the sheriff's office. He said, and turn yourself in. So I did. I go down there to Mickey Stein's was sheriff at this time. So I go down there and I turn it in. I turn myself in. I mean, I'm not arrested. I just had more or less, I just go down there and say, hey, here I am. I've been served this warrant, blah, blah, blah. Okay. So I go to court, go to court, go to court, go to court, go to court. And okay, Kevin had to recruise himself recuse himself from my case. So that's another one I'd like to talk about. Judge Crater from Knott County. Big buddies with Kevin. He would come over once a month and take care of cases that Kevin could not. So he was the judge. So when there's when he is setting me a jury trial, I was facing time, not probation. So when he's setting me this jury trial, I have no attorney with me because I've not done anything wrong. I looked at him and I said, Your Honor, I said, can you explain to me why this is a criminal warrant against me when it should be a civil matter? He looked up from that little desk and he said, I suggest if you're speaking to me, you speak to me through your attorney. I looked on both sides of me and I just crossed my arms and waited. When they handed me my piece of paper, I go to Jamie Hatton's office and I said, Can I get a warrant for Greg? And he said, Oh no, that'd be a civil matter. I said, Well, Jamie, I said, explain this to me. Why is it a criminal warrant against me, but a civil matter against Greg? And he says, Well, because you stole it. I said, Whoa, you done got me convicted, Jamie. That's what he said. I started to leave. And I said, No, you're not. Turned around. I walked one step closer to him and I looked at him and I said, You go ahead and take me to trial, Jamie. I'll have the bars association down here so fast as it'll make your head spin. I turned around and I walked out of his office. On the date that this judge had set me for a jury trial, I didn't make it up the courthouse steps. The clerk had met was had bet me outside and told me that my case had been dismissed and thrown out. I said, Well, that's fine. I said, I want my paperwork. I said, I want it uh expunged from my records. She said, Well, it'll take you 62 or 63 days, whatever. I said, Well, I don't care how long it takes. But I want it expunged. So I went upstairs and I sent that to be in front of Judge Mullen's to have to expunge it. Bless his little heart. So I did not make only the judge back down, I also made Jamie Hatton's office back down. Because they know I was in the right. Now let me explain to the public. Anytime you live in a domestic relationship, there is never any criminal case whatsoever. If you cannot decide on who gets what, in the separation, divorce, whatever, they're supposed to bring in a mediator who determines who gets what. Never a criminal case. Do not let these people do this to you. So now that I've got that out of my system, sorry. Okay. So yeah, that that that ate him. So anytime that I had anything that went in front of the judge, he was against me. So me and Jamie Hatton's had it out several times. Me and Matt Butler, we've had it out twice. Once because he was on an opposite divorce of mine. Second is when I was robbed uh three years ago, two years ago, somewhere between two and three. Okay. I have all my documentation. I have videos. I have voice messages that actually this kid literally admits that if you want your money back, so he's admitted to me in all of these my videos, because I have 10 cameras on my property of him stealing from me, robbing me blind. Okay. So I get a warrant for this boy. Jamie Hatton writes it up. Let's back up to Jamie Hatton before we go on to Matt Butler's bullshit. Sorry. Anyway. So I go to Jamie Hatton. He writes up the warrant. I go over and talk to Mickey Steines. I even help Mickey Steines find the boy. Because people are looking for him and telling me where he was at. So they do find him. It takes a little while, but they do find him. And what does the judge do? He puts him in rehab for 120 days. That's fine. He needed it. He was on meth. So he uh puts him in rehab, and then when rehab is over, then they take my case to the court. So I go in. And I'm standing in the hallway waiting for my for me to go into the courtroom over this. Our new judge is one of the greatest people you'll ever know. Nick Whitaker is one of the greatest people you'll ever know. He has morals. He is true. He's a good person. He's he's not corrupt and he's not a criminal. All right, so I'm standing in the hallway and he motions for me to come down to the end of the hallway. And I'm thinking, okay. So I go down there. Now he works side by side at this time with Jamie Hatton. And in the Commonwealth Attorney's Office filling in while the person that was over at Banks was, I think, is his name. But anyways, yeah, Edison Banks. Okay, he was very sick. So, you know, he motions for me to come down there and I said, Hey, how you doing, Nick? And he says, Jimmy, he said, tell me what this is going on, what this case is about. And I told him, I told him everything I had. I said, I've got videos, I've got voice messages, I've got text messages, everything. I said, even other people telling uh sending me videos that I don't even know of him trying to sell the motorcycle that he stole off my property. My brother's Harley Davidson. So he says, well, he says, I'm gonna give you a little piece of advice. Do not let Jamie Hatton's office handle this. I'm like, okay. Okay, if you understand by the look on my face, is like he works side by side with him. And he's telling me not to let Jamie Hatton handle this case. Okay. So I said, all right. He said, what you need to do is he said, when you go in there, he said, you tell them that you would like to have a special prosecutor brought in. Ask them to recuse themselves. I said, okay. All right. Now I walk in here, into the courtroom, it's my turn, okay? The polychick that works in uh Jamie Hatton's office, Jamie Hatton himself, neither one of them would even come and talk to me because they're supposed to talk to you. No, they send me the child support prosecutor out into the hallway to discuss my case. She tells me who she is. I said, I know who you are. And uh she says, Well, tell me about this. And I said, told her, I said, uh, well, I was robbed. Anthony Barrett robbed me. I said, I have videos, and I have she said, Well, do you have me proof? I said, look there, and I said, I sure do. I said, I have videos and text messages and voice messages, have them admitting to it. And she said, and I said, Well, let me stop you right there. I said, Jenny Hatton's a piece of shit. I do not want him handling my case. She says, Well, well, that's my boss. I said, Well, honey, and your boss is a piece of shit. And I mean, I told her this. I'm sorry for my language, people, but that's what I told her. I said, and I do not want his office or you to handle my case. She looks at me real funny and she says, So you're asking us to recuse ourselves and bring in a special prosecutor? I said, That's exactly what I'm asking for. So she stopped talking to me about it. We walked back in. The judge, my turn again, and I had to bite my tongue because Judge Mullins looks at me and he says, So you're wanting a special prosecutor. I said, I sure do, and I had to bite my tongue so hard because I started to say, and I would like to have you excuse yourself too, because you ain't nothing but I did, and I had to bite my tongue. So I left it there. So they did. They brought me in a prosecutor from Pikeville. All right, when I told this prosecutor what was going on the first time, he says, Can you send me all that? And gave me his email. I said, Sure can. I sent it all to him. We go back to court and he hasn't had time to go through it. He asks us for another court date. And then he informs me that on the third time we come back to court that he is going to drop this case. And I'm looking at him like, what? He said, Here, let me explain to you. He says, Your case is not a misdemeanor, it is a felony. So you need to have this as a felony. A felony. I said, okay. So he says, I'm going to drop it and the state's gonna pick it up. Well, I didn't think about the state being uh the new prosecuting attorney, which is uh now Matt Butler, just being uh sworn in. Hang on just a second. Cheyenne, please go and see who's outside. Someone's out there in my driveway. So, anyways, so he explained it to me and he came in and he told the judge, he says, I'm dropping this. We're going to send this to the state. He said, I've sent them everything. Okay, so there comes Matt Butler. So I assumed that it would be, who is it? Okay. So I assumed it would be the state, but I didn't know it would be the Commonwealth attorney and being Matt Butler. So they contact me to set up a uh grand jury. Okay, they wanted me to go in front of a grand jury. So I went into the grand jury, Matt Butler comes in, and all these people's in this room, and I brought my witnesses. So I he starts, he tells me, um, starts telling me what to do. He said, we're gonna be asking you some questions. We're gonna let you tell uh them what you've got, blah, blah, blah, about the case, he said, and everything. And I looked at him and I said, Before we start, uh, Matt, I said, I'd like to know if uh the divorces between us is going to cause an issue. He said, Well, we never married. I'm like, No, we sure weren't. I said, but we were on opposite sides of two divorces, my son's and mine. I'm asking you now if this is going to become an issue. I'm the Commonwealth attorney. I said, okay. So they asked me a few questions and I tell them my story and I tell them what I have, and they should already have this by now. Matt Butler had that by now because it had been sent to him. So um I get done, and I said, Well, I do have witnesses also, because you know they're supposed to speak to the witnesses also. Oh, they didn't need to speak to nobody else. They just wanted to speak to me and let me, then they let that go real fast. And they says, Well, you call our office in the morning and we'll give you uh your an answer to if we're going to take this to trial. Well, I said, Okay. I didn't call the office the next morning. The office called me, the secretaries, who were very distraught. The secretaries. Very distraught. They were upset because they could not understand why, with all of my proof, that the grand jury decided to take not to take this case to trial on this boy. So there's my issue with Matt Butler, one of them. Um Jamie Hatton. Evidently he's he's stepping down. It could be because uh I won't shut up about him. Because not once has he done me wrong, knowing me. But he wrote up some kind of paperwork against my ex-brother-in-law for touching my 14-year-old daughter as sex trafficking. Okay, that's not what the what it was supposed to be wrote up. And I asked him when they handed me that piece of paper, and I said, Why is it wrote up as sex trafficking? He didn't traffic her. He offered her $50 to s to have sex with him, and he offered her $50 more to keep her mouth shut. He has touched my daughter. I said, I have had, I thought I was going to put my daughter in a mental institution or somewhere because I couldn't handle her anymore. Couldn't understand why, because she wasn't telling me nothing. But she told my bro, my my oldest son's ex-wife. And then she told his new wife that now he's divorced. But anyways, and then she told him what happened. And then he told me about it. And then I couldn't understand why my daughter was acting up and getting in trouble at school and all this stuff, but he wrote it up as sex trafficking, therefore I had to take my daughter to hazard to be in to have an interview with all the cameras on every angle of her body while they questioned her. And then I heard nothing. Months and months went by and months. Well, I started asking questions. I went down and asked Jamie. He said, It's out of my hands, you need to speak to blah blah blah. So, okay. I asked the state. Policeman. Uh, don't know. So I go to the cabinet for children's services, who came to interview my daughter the next day after I filed the complaint. And he goes back in there and he comes back and he says, Well, Gemma, he says, to be really honest, he says, I don't have to tell you anything. And I'm like, Well, why not? He said, Well, because you're not the victim. I said, No, I'm the victim's mother and she is underage.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

And he looked at me and he says, Yeah, but she she has no rights to know, neither. Excuse me. He said, But hang on, Jim. And they all know me because I when I worked for the Ready to Work program, I worked in the cabinet with my boss with all the students because I was her assistant on the Whitesburgs campus. So, you know, I was hand all of it. All right. He said, but I'm going to tell you, anyways, the reason that nothing has come and you've not heard anything is because they dropped the case because there was no evidence for sex trafficking. So no, Jamie Hatton has um stepped across that line just one time, one time too many, as far as my me, because now the last time is when I was had filed for a warrant because my ex had throwed gravels five months after we were divorced into my truck because it came down here and brought his trash and throw it in my yard. And I took it back up there and throwed it in his yard on the hill because I didn't get on his property, he did. So I go and get a warrant for him because he busted my windshield. What does Jamie do? Oh, they arrested him and then he turns around and goes straight to Jamie's office, and they give him an EPO against me. Okay. That's fine. Because when I asked the judge uh why he is issuing this, why he is going to go for this when I had nothing to do with this, I would wasn't bothering him. He was on my property uh and everything, he said, um, well, he said, you can put it in writing and we'll discuss it uh if we're going to um it uh about it. And I said, you know what, don't worry about it, Judge. This was Kevin. I said, don't worry about it, Kevin. I said, you go ahead and issue that EPO. I said, if that makes sure that he is not around me or my children. And so um, sorry, I messed with my phone. So needless to say, the ex got out of jail, and because the little fella over there at the uh DMB office did not take a picture of the judge's signature on the divorce decree for me to ask for my name back when I went and changed my driver's license because I was waiting for that because I did not want to have his name on my next checking account. So because I had not changed it, he walked over to the bank out of the jail and emptied my bank account and closed my bank. And then he goes down and gets the EPO against me. But when I walk back down there to Jamie's office, and I said, Is this really how it's gonna go? Jamie, I said, uh, I get a warrant for him doing the things that he's done. I said, and you going to issue him an EPO and him go down there and take every dime I've got out of my bank account and close it? He looked at me and he said, Get the hell out of my office and don't ever come back. Ding. I have not been able to go back and I've not gotten any kind of support or help from Whitesburg. And I'm sorry, but isn't an accounty official supposed to help people? So yeah, but evidently Jamie Hatton must be stepping down because Michael Watts is running for it, and that's his buddy, that's his partner. And Jamie and Michael, uh Michael Watts is a wonderful young man. Bless his little heart, he hooked up with the wrong person. That's all I can say, but I hope he gets it. I know him well, but I don't know, I have not seen anything about Jamie running again.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

So how um so it's giving you the motivation to continue on with so many hurdles that you've come across to to continue on, because uh somebody might say, Oh, like I don't know how I would have gone past the the first event, and yeah, there's 10 or 15 different events or more that you had to work yourself through.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

That's exactly right, right there. All because I turned the judge down. And okay, when I was working up at the courthouse, Jamie came up there and made a remark about well, how do I get free help? So, blah, blah, blah. And I said, Well, I'll come down and help you. Well, I went down there one day and I helped them just to get out of the courthouse. And very rude. Snotty. He treated me like I was trash. And I didn't go back. So I guess because he didn't get to keep my three health, that he didn't care for me. Now let's see. What did I have on my mind to say just now? Daniel Dotson. In my divorce, he was the divorce lawyer. He was the divorce judge. Hey. Um, the man that I divorced was divorcing, owes me a lot of money because he filed for his disability. The disability asked him when they done his interview, who is paying your bills? He told them, my girlfriend. At the time we were good, that was just his girlfriend, Gemma Bentley. And what then they said, well, what is her name? And they said he sold her to Gemma Bentley. He says, uh, then they asked him, Well, how do you intend to pay her back? He said, When I get my back pay. So during the divorce, I brought that up. You know what the judge said? Daniel Dotson. He said, You can forget that. He says, I've had to pay out my butt over these women. He said, So, nope. And I'm like, first of all, you can't tell me that. This is not between you and the Social Security. So yeah, it's a bunch of crap. Um I'm different. Okay. Let me explain to you one more about this. Okay. I know you talked to Taya and these other ladies, and a couple of Brandy and whomever. Okay, I'm not on the same side of this as they are. I wasn't in trouble. I have a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. I've raised my children. I did not have a drug problem. I turned him down. And then there is where it comes into how does he get me? He retaliates against me. When anything came against uh came in his courtroom, he went against me. Now they knew better. They have a better degree than me. They're judges, they're lawyers. I just have a criminal justice bachelor's degree. They knew better than to write that criminal warrant against me. They knew it was a civil matter. But they thought that evidently I just went to school to look pretty. No, if I sat there and learned, and then I got a job with EKU. Up on up on time for me to graduate, the main man of the program that brought the program to the community colleges sent me a private message and asked me to if I would like to have a job, which I told him the first day of class that I was gonna work for him one day.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah. So I mean you're you're definitely you're definitely an inspiration to uh continue on to be the be a beacon of uh of light that uh well one day or one situation may not turn out exactly right, but when you stand up for your yourself the way you have, and again look that whole looking in the mirror and say, you know, I'm uh happy with what I'm doing, how I'm approaching things, and at the end of the day, that's that's all that matters because if we can't support ourselves, not even not even financially, but just emotionally and all that, then we're gonna it it's gonna be hard for others to to believe us and and to really feel that feel that pressure and that heat that like look I'm I'm not messing around. We need to get this handled and and as many times as it it's it's taken uh that you didn't graduate, which is fantastic. Congratulations, it's not an easy feat at any age to do that. Uh what would be your um as we're coming close to the end of our time uh together uh on our show, uh what would be maybe a couple takeaways that you'd want to share if somebody is in in a position like you or find someone they know in a position of what do what do they do? What do they do first? Or uh you can probably articulate it better than I can.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

Well, here's my here's my thoughts on it. Okay, here's my advice. Girls, never let no one take you down, never put you down. You are above that. You are a female. You can stand up for these people, you can stand up for yourselves. You have children. Don't ever, ever, ever fall for this again. Because if it happens, there is always above that you can go and bring those people down. These men are predators in this courtroom, in this courthouse, in this county. Not only this county, it it goes in in different counties, other counties, other states. Girls, you have daughters, don't let it happen to them. Make sure they they respect themselves, that they love themselves, because I have an 18-year-old daughter who was fondled and that brought her down. And I fought for her, and it didn't do no good. Why? Because there is uh there's a sister who works for City Hall. That's why nothing ever happens to these guys in Whitesburg. So you know it's all connected. But girls stand up for yourself, respect yourself, love yourself. Learn the laws. Look them up. They're not hard, go to libraries. If you can't find anything else, go to libraries, get you a law book, go to cook, go to school, learn these laws because I've always been one to stand up for myself. I'm tired. I've worked hard since I was a little girl. And I've been through hell since I've been since I was a little girl. I went through this. And I'm just not gonna let nobody else, and I'm not gonna let my daughter go down that hole. And if you're on drugs, girls, help. Get away from it. You're more important than that, so are your children. That drugs aren't your friends, and they don't love you.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

And they never will. Wow. Thank you so much. That was so powerful. That that that closing. Uh yeah, value yourself and uh again, like you're being today, and as you have done many times, you're you're being a voice for you, and then the others that are out there that you may or may not ever meet, but you know that you're setting that example, and I I can assure you that there's gonna be at least one person that watches uh uh and listens to this episode um because we're so widely distributed, uh, not just here in the the states, but uh across the world. And I I know that by you speaking out, it is uh not easy to do. Uh but we're here on this earth and uh you're deciding to not only help yourself, but you want to help others and and clean up the corruption and uh what's what's going on as much as possible. Um Gemma, thank you so much for for your time and joining us on on the show today.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

I appreciate you inviting me. I um I'm glad that I could get this out to the other women, to the other people, to the people that are going through this today in other counties, other states. But I got one more last thing to say.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Please do.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

They call this corruption. I'm sorry, that's the wrong word. These people that are doing this to these women are criminals. They took an oath. So the word is wrong. It is not corruption, they are criminals, and they should be paying.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

I I I love it. That is yeah, corruption is like they cannot prosecute corruption.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

That's what I'm getting at. Yeah, you can prosecute a criminal, and what they've done, they took an oath to uphold these laws, and they're them they themselves are breaking these laws, which makes them a criminal.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

That's right. And you can prosecute prosecute a criminal.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

Yes.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Absolutely.

Gemma Bentley, Advocate:

I greatly appreciate you.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Oh, thank you. Absolutely. We're gonna uh we'll we'll we'll talk uh off off camera uh to let you know kind of time the timing of of everything. So we'll uh we'll close this out for our viewers, our listeners. Thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode and all the episodes of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast near or far in the United States, in Kentucky, in Ohio, across the world, uh watching, listening. Uh, and we want uh give uh again just another big thank you to Gemma Bentley for spending her time and uh again just sharing her voice about how she's standing up for not only herself but for women and and individuals uh everywhere. So we want to uh again thank thank Gemma. Thank you for watching and listening, and we will see you on the next episode. And we say until then, uh to please be a voice for you or somebody in need. We'll see you next time, everybody. Thank you so much.

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Justin Alan Hayes

Host