{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-531.125","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 531.125","heading":"Sexual extortion.","body":"(1) A person is guilty of sexual extortion when he or she communicates, through any\nmeans, a threat to:\n(a) Injure the property or reputation of another person or commit violence against\nanother person with the intent to coerce that person to:\n1. Engage in sexual conduct; or\n2. Produce, provide, or distribute any matter depicting that person\nengaging in sexual conduct or in a state of nudity or seminudity; or\n(b) Distribute any matter depicting another person engaged in sexual conduct or\nin a state of nudity or seminudity with the intent to coerce that person to:\n1. Engage in sexual conduct;\n2. Produce, provide, or distribute any matter depicting that person\nengaging in sexual conduct or in a state of nudity or seminudity;\n3. Provide the payment of money, proper ty, services, or any other thing of\nvalue to the perpetrator; or\n4. Do any act or refrain from doing any act against his or her will.\n(2) Sexual extortion is a Class A misdemeanor unless:\n(a) The victim, as a result of the commission of the offense:\n1. Engages in sexual conduct;\n2. Produces, provides, or distributes any matter depicting himself or herself\nengaging in sexual conduct or in a state of nudity or seminudity;\n3. Provides the payment of money, property, services, or any other thing of\nvalue to the offender;\n4. Does any act or refrains from doing any act against his or her will; or\n5. Suffers serious physical injury;\nin which case it is a Class D felony; or\n(b) 1. The person:\na. Was pr eviously convicted of any sexual offense under KRS\nChapter 510 or a sex crime as defined in KRS 17.500;\nb. Occupied a position of special trust or a position of authority as\nthose terms are defined in KRS 532.045 in relation to the victim;\nc. Used or threa tened the use of a deadly weapon or dangerous\ninstrument against the victim during the commission of the\noffense; or\nd. Is an adult and the victim is a minor, and there is greater than a\nfour (4) year difference in age between them; or\n2. The offense was c ommitted during the course of a kidnapping as\ndescribed in KRS 509.040;\nin which case the person shall be charged one (1) level higher than the level\notherwise specified in this subsection.\n(3) If the victim attempts suicide resulting in serious physical injury or dies by suicide\nwithin ninety (90) days of the commission of the offense as a proximate result of\nthe trauma the victim experienced during or following the commission of the\noffense, the person may be prosecuted for homicide under KRS Chapter 507  or\nassault under KRS Chapter 508.\n(4) This section shall not apply to:\n(a) Images involving voluntary nudity or sexual conduct in public, commercial\nsettings, or in a place where a person does not have a reasonable expectation\nof privacy;\n(b) Disclosures made in the public interest, including the reporting of unlawful\nconduct, or lawful and common practices of law enforcement, criminal\nreporting, corrections, legal proceedings, or medical treatment;\n(c) Disclosures of materials that constitute a matter of public concern; or\n(d) When acting in its capacity as a provider of those services, a:\n1. Broadband internet access service provider;\n2. Telecommunications service provider, an interconnected VoIP service\nprovider, or a mobile service provider as defined in 47 U.S.C. sec. 153;\n3. Commercial mobile service provider as defined in 47 U.S.C. sec. 332; or\n4. Cable operator as defined in 47 U.S.C. sec. 522; or\n(e) An interactive computer service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. sec. 230, related to\ncontent provided by a user of the interactive computer service.","path":["KRS Chapter 531"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=56088","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T21:00:05Z","sha256":"9b45e0edef66cf61791e77127a67ec420283aa539f5daff857a3dd8a3c47ba37","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-531.120","next":"us-ky/krs-531.300"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}