Records: Lawyer paid 15-year-old girl for sex, asked to videotape her

The victim in the statutory rape and sexual exploitation case filed against lawyer Kent L. Booher is a 15-year-old girl whom he paid for sex and is also the victim in another unrelated sex-abuse case, according to court affidavits.

Booher, 58, formerly a resident of Lenoir City, was arrested Wednesday at his current home in Harriman following an investigation by the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office, the Lenoir City Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

A “concerned citizen” reported that Booher was paying the girl to have sex with him, according to affidavits used as the basis for searches of Booher’s residence.

The girl told investigators she had been paid by Booher for sex several times, including at least one tryst in the bedroom of a home the lawyer shared with his wife, according to one of the affidavits.

There is also evidence Booher visited the girl at her home, the affidavit states.

The girl also said Booher “asked to videotape her during a sex act ... (and said) that he videotapes himself having sex with other women at his house and that the video card was hidden,” according to the affidavit.

The affidavits also say the girl sent two nude photographs of herself to an electronic account to which he provided her access.

A list of items seized during the searches included a “bottle of Zyrexin sexual enhancer,” seven guns, videotapes, hard drives, floppy discs and an array of other computer items.

Booher is charged with three counts of having sex with the underage girl, using a minor to “participate in the production of material which included the minor engaging in sexual activity or simulated sexual activity,” and soliciting the girl through another person.

Also arrested in the case was Malina Nanette Akin, 36, of Lenoir City. She is charged with promoting or permitting a minor to participate in the production of pornography.

Both were indicted by a Loudon County grand jury.

It is not clear from available documents what Akin’s relationship is to the girl. They do not share a last name, and a law enforcement official familiar with the case said they are not related.

Authorities gave few details on the case.

Last year the state Board of Professional Responsibility publicly censured Booher.

The board regulates the conduct of lawyers in the state. Booher was cited for mishandling an estate matter and for lying about his actions to the board’s chief disciplinary counsel investigating the case. Booher’s law license was not revoked or suspended over that incident.

Last year, Booher filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.