London mayor Randall Weddle faces another defamation lawsuit

LONDON, Ky. (FOX 56) — Controversy continues to swirl in London after another lawsuit was filed against the city’s mayor, Randall Weddle. He’s being sued for defamation for the second time this month.

Two former state troopers allege Weddle made false and damaging statements against them online.

“We’ve got a community divided like nothing I’ve ever seen in my lifetime,” said one of the plaintiffs, James Phelps. “And I’m talking about with the city government, county government, citizens, and there’s one common denominator for every bit of this division, and it’s Randall Weddle.”

James, who often goes by Jimmy, and his brother John filed a lawsuit against Weddle on Feb. 21, claiming he falsely accused the former state troopers of sexual misconduct and committing other crimes, including murder.

“We were never suspects in any murder,” said Phelps. “You know, whoever started that rumor, where it came from, we have no idea.”

This comes on the heels of another lawsuit filed by Elijah Jarvis on Feb. 14. That one claims that Weddle accused Jarvis of sending nude pictures of girls and portrayed him as a child molester on a since-deleted “True Crimecast” podcast episode.

An attorney representing all three plaintiffs said he believes his clients were being attacked for questioning the way the city handled the case of Doug Harless, who was shot to death in December after police went to the wrong house to serve a search warrant.

“Me making the open records request is really just to shine a light on the corruption in London,” said Jarvis.

“Whenever somebody seeks to question him, instead of just answering, he attacks people,” said the plaintiffs’ attorney, Brian Voelker.

Weddle mentioned one of the Phelps brothers from the lawsuit in a Facebook comment saying in part- “Like I’ve always said, keeping Jimmy and Doug Phelps on me might keep them from messing with young girls.”

The Phelps brothers said this is one of several false statements made by the mayor causing damage to their reputations and emotional distress, per the lawsuit.

“You know the way he feels is that he’s not really like the elected mayor. He’s more like a king or a monarch. And I think that’s a, a scary proposition for a city, that has somebody that believes they’re not accountable to anyone.”

Voelker said he hopes to present his clients’ cases in front of the jury.

“And we also feel that the conduct is so reckless that it gives rise to where we think a jury should award punitive damages.”

FOX 56 reached out to Weddle for a comment. He said that he hasn’t been served with any lawsuit but that he will provide a statement if or when that happens.