Kenton County Jury Convicts Clinton Hulsey Of Robbing “Kratom Direct” Store in Elsmere
On April 27, 2023, at the conclusion of a two day trial, a Kenton County jury deliberated for over three hours before returning a verdict of guilty in a 2021 robbery case. The same jury recommended Clinton Charles Hulsey, 46, serve 10 years in prison. Hulsey, whose last known address was in Cincinnati, is already serving 14 years in an Indiana prison for robbing a Lawrenceburg gas station the week after the robbery in Kenton County.
On August 4, 2021, Elsmere Police were called to the “Kratom Direct” store on Dixie Highway for a robbery that had just occurred. The female owner, who was working alone in the store at the time, told responding officers a man entered the store, looked outside, then approached the woman at the cash register and punched her in the face without warning. The woman was knocked unconscious but awoke as the robber was walking out of the store. The woman discovered the contents of the cash register and her cell phone missing.
The store security system did not record video of the incident but took periodic still photos which were of limited use to investigators because the robber was wearing a COVID mask. Investigators knew they were looking for a balding, white male but had little else to go on. The woman’s cell phone was located in the middle of Kenton Street in Elsmere, about a block from the store, where the robber had discarded it. Tests of the phone for fingerprints were negative.
Elsmere Police Detective Eric Higgins placed the still photos of the robbery on the department’s Facebook page. About a week later, Higgins was contacted by a woman who identified the robber as her ex-husband, Clinton Hulsey. The woman told Higgins she also saw Hulsey in photos on the Lawrenceburg (IN) Police Department’s Facebook page, committing another robbery in that jurisdiction. Higgins contacted Lawrenceburg Police Detective Nick Beetz and compared notes. Higgins learned Beetz located the shirt and shoes seen on the Elsmere robber in Hulsey’s Jeep which Hulsey appeared to be living in.
Higgins also learned Greater Cincinnati/NKY Airport Police arrested Hulsey at his jobsite on the Amazon campus for the Indiana robbery charge. When the detective interviewed Hulsey about the Elsmere robbery, Hulsey said the robber “looks like me” but refused to confess to the robbery because he claimed he had no memory of the robbery due to his methamphetamine use.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Emily Arnzen presented testimony from Elsmere Police Sgt. Alexis Day, the robbery victim, Detectives Higgins and Beetz, as well as Hulsey’s ex-wife. The prosecutors also entered dozens of exhibits including the clothing found in Hulsey’s vehicle. The most compelling evidence was video of the Lawrenceburg robbery which was clearly the same man seen robbing the Elsmere store. The jury also heard Hulsey claimed the same meth-induced memory loss in Indiana but eventually pled guilty to robbery, admitting it was, in fact, him in the video.
At trial, Hulsey’s attorneys claimed “He’s not that guy” seen in the Elsmere video despite the comparison to the Lawrenceburg video and identification by the ex-wife. Hulsey also took the stand in his own defense with a convenient new memory of everything that happened on the day of the Elsmere robbery. Hulsey claimed he knew he was sitting in his car on a church parking lot all day, waiting to report to work at Amazon in the late afternoon. Hulsey’s newfound memory conveniently avoided anything anyone could have corroborated. Hulsey also claimed he reported to work that day but was sent home which is why there were no pay records for August 4th.
At the conclusion of the case, the jury deliberated more than three hours during which time they re-watched some court testimony, before returning a verdict finding Hulsey guilty of 1st Degree Robbery. The same jury then recommended a ten year prison sentence. Whether the Kentucky sentence runs concurrently or consecutively to the Indiana sentence will be decided by Kenton Circuit Judge Patricia Summe at formal, final sentencing scheduled for May 23, 2023.
Sanders said “Hulsey is a violent man when he is on meth and this community is much safer with him behind bars!” Sanders pointed to Hulsey’s escalation of his violence from punching out a women to stabbing the store clerk in the Lawrenceburg robbery. “We’re lucky his ex-wife identified him and police caught him before he killed anyone.”
After final sentencing in Kentucky, Hulsey will also have to face charges for yet another robbery in Hamilton County, Ohio committed on the same day as the Indiana robbery.
For additional information contact:
Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders
rsanders@prosecutors.ky.gov
(859) 292-6580
Posted on Sunday, April 30th, 2023 @ 1:04PM
Categories: Blog, Commonwealth's Commentary, Media/Press Releases, Press Room
