LOUISVILLE - A federal judge rejected the government's recommendation for the lowest penalty and instead imposed the maximum term on a former bridge inspector for extorting bribes on a painting project for the Kennedy Bridge at Louisville.

        Chief U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn called Kevin Lee Earles' offenses “an egregious violation of the public trust” and said they brought “severe disrepute to the people who are supposed to be serving the commonwealth.”

        Judge Heyburn sentenced him to 71 months in prison because the former Kentucky Transportation Department worker had backed up his threats with a gun. Under a plea bargain, the government had recommended that Mr. Earles get 33 to 41 months in prison.

        “From the evidence, it appears that Mr. Earles isn't the only one who did this. If witnesses testified truthfully - and I have no reason to think they did not - this kind of thing was rampant,” Judge Heyburn said Friday.

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