Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin cannot have contact with adoptive son, judge rules

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin was ordered by a Louisville judge Tuesday to have no contact with one of his adoptive sons after the son sought an emergency protective order against him earlier this month.

Judge Angela Johnson extended for six months an emergency protective order brought by 18-year-old Jonah Bevin, who alleged Bevin exhibited a pattern of “threatening,” “intimidating” and “manipulative” behavior toward him.

The Bevins adopted Jonah from Ethiopia when he was 5. Until a few weeks ago, Jonah was homeless and living in Utah.

Johnson’s actions Tuesday were part of an agreement reached between Jonah and his adoptive parents, who first appeared in court together Friday.

Former First Lady Glenna Bevin, who appeared virtually Tuesday, is also barred from contacting Jonah by way of a civil restraining order, though she was not the primary subject of Jonah’s protective order. The domestic violence order against her was dismissed.

Glenna filed for divorce from the one-term governor in 2023; it was finalized this month.

Jonah was granted an emergency protective order against Bevin on March 7. Neither Matt nor Glenna had extensive contact with Jonah for months until recently, when they both contacted him about traveling to Ethiopia to visit his birth mother, whom Jonah had long been told was dead, he testified Friday.

That disclosure unnerved Jonah, who said he has long distrusted “Matthew,” including for abandoning him at Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica, where staff were physically and emotionally abusive, he said — an experience detailed in an extensive interview in Kentucky Lantern last month.

Jonah said his adoptive father pressured him to go to the East African nation but provided few details about the trip. As an incentive, Bevin texted Jonah a picture of his biological mom and told him she was alive.

“They’d told me my whole life my mom has been dead. And now they told me she’s alive. You told me it was a secret,” Jonah said to Bevin in court last week. “I would never keep a secret like that.”

Jonah said he feared he was being lured to another country to be abandoned again, so he sought a protective order to legally prevent his adoptive father from contacting him.

If Bevin does not violate the emergency protective order over the next six months, Johnson said Tuesday, it will be replaced by a civil restraining order. Violating a protective order can result in arrest and up to a year in jail, whereas violating a restraining order carries a lesser criminal penalty.

While the EPO is in place, the former governor — who signed a bill legalizing permitless concealed carry in Kentucky as governor — is barred from possessing any firearms and must stay at least 500 feet away from Jonah.

Both the protective and restraining orders prohibit Bevin from having any “direct or indirect” contact with Jonah, the judge explained.

The agreement also requires the Bevins to turn over to Jonah’s attorneys “any information or documents related to (Jonah’s) biological family, whether they’re alive or not,” Jonah’s attorney John Helmers said. “That is very important to him.”

“Sadly, that should not be required for this young man to learn about his family,” Johnson said. “That should be done, regardless. And I’m going to leave that there.”

“Agreed,” Bevin nodded and mumbled.

In Friday’s initial hearing, Bevin did not have an attorney present and instead represented himself. He directly questioned Jonah, at first referring to himself in the third person.

The hearing eventually devolved into a periodically tense exchange, offering insight into Jonah and Bevin’s fraught relationship. Jonah at times raised his voice, and Bevin had to be warned more than once to stop interrupting Jonah’s responses.

Zach Buckler, a Lexington-area attorney, represented Bevin on Tuesday. Johnson asked Buckler if his client understood the parameters of the settlement, including that any information related to Jonah’s birth parents be disclosed to Jonah’s attorneys.

“Have you explained this to your client?” Johnson asked.

“Yes, your honor, my client understands the EPO remains in effect and subjects the violating party to the arrest powers of the police, and that a civil restraining order subjects the violating party to the arrest powers of the court,” Buckler said. “I do believe my client is fully informed as to what the requirements are as to what his expectations should be as it relates to both of those orders.”

“While this is in effect, you can’t contact him by social media, by third party, by message through a pigeon, you cannot contact him,” Johnson told Bevin and his attorney. “You can’t post on social media a message that is meant for him. Any violation of this will be considered a criminal offense.”

After the hearing, while he waited for the elevator, Bevin did not answer reporters’ questions, including why he didn’t go to Jamaica to pick up Jonah after he was removed from the facility by the country’s child protective services.

Glenna issued a statement through her attorney, Steve Romines.

“This situation has been extremely difficult and painful for our entire family. I am glad it is over and the case against me is dismissed,” she said. “I love my children and want what is best for all of them.”

Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Jonah, smiling, said he “felt like the judge understood” his plight.

“It looks like to everybody that Matt Bevin had everything figured out in his life, but he had nothing figured out,” Jonah said. “There’s an image they want people to see, and they don’t want an image of what’s actually going on in their homes.

“And today, we brought it out. We brought out what he didn’t want people to see.”

_____