State Senator Resigns amid Voyeurism, Extortion Charges
By Mary Lind
Lion’s Roar Staff
Former Senator Nick Kettle (R-Coventry) resigned late February following his arrest on video voyeurism and extortion charges. Kettle, who was the youngest state Senator in Rhode Island history following his election in 2011 at age nineteen, is accused of soliciting sex from a male Senate page while in his first year in office. The indictment states that Kettle “did by verbal communication, maliciously threaten injury to the person or reputation of” the page with “the intent to compel” him “to do an act against his will,” and engage in “sexual penetration.” Kettle was arrested and charged with two counts of extortion. All of the charges against him are felony charges, with the extortion charges having required a Grand Jury indictment, which was filed on February 16, 2018.
The other charge, video voyeurism, is in regards to the allegation that he shared pornographic images of his girlfriend at the time (they have since broken up) without her consent. According to The Providence Journal, Kettle exchanged said photographs with a friend in New Hampshire, and that the two had discussed “swapping partners and videotaping sex acts.” The friend also allegedly shared with Kettle photographs of his wife.
The alleged victim of the extortion worked as a page in the Senate in 2011 and 2012, and according to the Journal was sixteen or seventeen at the time. The State House runs two page programs, one in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate, where students ranging in age from fifteen to college age run errands within the building for lawmakers, including getting drinks, making and getting copies of bills, and delivering paperwork. Since Kettle’s arrest and resignation both House and Senate pages (who work independently of one another) have been spoken to about their rights and safety in the workplace and what to do if they feel unsafe.
Senators from both the Republican and Democratic parties called on Kettle, now twenty-seven, to resign immediately, or else they would move to expel him from the Senate. Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio (D-Providence) stated that he was “absolutely horrified and disgusted” by the allegations against Kettle. Minority Leader Dennis Algiere, R-Westerly, echoed this sentiment, saying that his “thoughts are with the victims” of the alleged behavior, and that should he not resign, he would be “working with Senate President Ruggerio to expel him from the chamber.”
Kettle resigned on February 22, following his arrest on February 16. In his resignation letter, he stated that he had determined that it was in his “best interest to resign and concentrate on the unfounded allegations” against him. He also said that he is “grateful” for his constituents and for those who “understand that I am innocent until proven guilty,” and that he is “extremely disappointed in Senate Leadership on both sides of the aisle,” as he feels that they “do not understand the importance of due process as a cornerstone of our legal system.”