In a small city of some 5,000, you would expect there to be some overlap between the city council and other institutions in town, like the volunteer fire department, the PTA, or the Kiwanis Club. One thing you wouldn’t expect city council overlap with: a prostitution ring.
In recent years, the City of Godley has been wrapped up in a series of high-profile scandals. An ongoing lawsuit accuses multiple city officials of conspiring to arrest a city council member to block an important vote.
Godley is a small city on the western end of Johnson County, which is just south of Tarrant County (Fort Worth). It looks like there’s a tiny sliver of farmland left between them and the Metroplex sprawl, but it’s coming fast. (Johnson County is not to be confused with Johnson City in Blanco County, considerably further south and the birthplace Lyndon Baines Johnson.)
Many of the same actors were later arrested for their involvement in a prostitution ring.
I think Texas Scorecard’s Travis Morgan has buried the “juicy headline potential” lead a bit here.
In October 2022, Godley Police Chief Jason Jordan resigned after Officer Solomon Omotoya accused him of racial discrimination.
Before resigning, Jordan passed a folder around at a city council meeting with information supporting his belief that city officials—including his own officers—were violating state and federal law by targeting residents and city council members for the content of their speech.
After accepting his resignation, three city council members—Jennifer Thompson, Michael Papenfuss, and Roger Cornelison—reviewed Jordan’s folder and changed their minds. They sought to have him reinstated, which would displace then-Mayor Acy McGehee’s replacement candidate—Matthew Cantrell.
So far, so murky. I’m guessing this folder had some juicy but possibly non-actionable details.
This reportedly led to a heated political feud, with the three city council members effectively becoming the “opposition party” to McGehee and city employees. The feud led to a flurry of allegations in both directions, including complaints of corruption, sexual assault, false testimony, and more.
The Godley Police Department launched an investigation into Thompson and Papenfuss, alleging Thompson had tampered with a government record when adding items to a city council meeting agenda from a previous meeting that she believed should have been carried over.
She made the alterations on the document already signed by the city secretary, which Papenfuss later distributed on social media.
Officer Jeremy Arbuthnot took the case to the Johnson County District Attorney, who rebuked it.
According to Thompson, “Assistant District Attorney Ryan Eady immediately recognized the frivolity of the case and informed Arbuthnot that the facts and circumstances did not give rise to forgery in part because they negated intent to deceive … [H]e suggested that the pending [retaliation] complaints [by Thompson against the officers] created conflicts of interest that would taint any investigation and prosecution.”
Upon learning of this, Mayor McGehee and City Attorney Cass Callaway reportedly directed the department to find a way to “get it done.”
The department then sought to charge Thompson with a misdemeanor, meaning it would be prosecuted by the county attorney’s office rather than the district attorney’s office. In December 2023, officers submitted a probable cause affidavit to the county attorney.
Nothing more transpired until February 7, 2024, when there was a city council meeting at which Thompson planned to vote to remove former Interim Police Chief Cantrell and install a city attorney of her choosing.
That morning, the county attorney informed Arbuthnot that the warrant looked “good to go,” but then an officer erroneously entered it into the system as a felony warrant. Thompson alleges this was intended to require her to undergo a strip search upon booking.
A few minutes before the meeting began, Officer Spencer Templer arrested Thompson in the city hall parking lot—despite being ordered to conduct the arrest at her residence. Her absence left the council deadlocked in a 2-2 vote.
According to court records, “Mayor McGehee used his tiebreaking authority to secure his preferred appointees for City Attorney and City Secretary. Three days later, the County Attorney declined to prosecute.”
So far, so slimy, but let’s get to juicer (alleged) transgressions.
Many of the actors involved in the alleged collusion against Thompson were subsequently arrested for their involvement in a local prostitution ring.
Ashley Ketcherside sat on the Godley ISD Bond Oversight Advisory Committee and the School Health Advisory Council—which is responsible for advising the school board on the district’s sex education curriculum.
When parents notified the district of Ketcherside’s prior arrests for prostitution in Tarrant County, she was removed from her positions. She then started a podcast and an Only Fans. Parents then approached the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office with allegations that she was still selling sex.
In March, Johnson County sheriff’s deputies and the Texas Department of Public Safety reportedly raided Ketcherside’s home, seizing her electronics.
During the course of the investigation, Ashley’s husband, Michael Ketcherside, was accused of scheduling men to have sex with his wife for money.
Pimping out your own wife to cuckold you is particularly low. Enjoy your trip to the Eighth Circle of Dante’s Hell.
Cantrell and Omotoya were arrested, as evidence from Ketcherside’s phone reportedly showed their involvement in a prostitution conspiracy. They had both been recently released from jail for using the police department’s fuel card for personal vehicles.
Investigators reportedly found evidence of the Ketchersides working with Cantrell to compile information on adversaries—including “members of the Godley City Council, Godley Independent School Board, the former mayor of Godley, and former Chief of Police of the City of Godley.”
Arbuthnot was also accused of involvement.
Cantrell’s mother, Regina, was accused of misusing official information when looking for active arrest warrants on her son. She is a former Johnson County corrections officer.
On July 15, a series of indictments were handed down by a Johnson County Grand Jury.
Michael Ketcherside was indicted on charges of continuous promotion of prostitution. Both he and Ashley Ketcherside were indicted on charges of racketeering/money laundering between $150,000 and $300,000.
Matthew Cantrell was indicted on charges of sexual assault, stalking, promoting prostitution, and engaging in organized criminal activity. Regina Cantrell was indicted on charges of misuse of official information.
Omotoya was indicted on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity and soliciting prostitution. Arbuthnot was charged with engaging in organized criminal activity.
So the “prostitution ring” was Ashley Ketcherside, her husband, some other dude, and the former “cry racism” sheriff john? That sounds like an unsustainable pimp-to-ho ratio for a successful business. High administrative overhead means low profits.
But the New York Post suggests other women may be involved.
A Texas mom of three who pleaded her innocence when her hubby was arrested for allegedly running a prostitution ring frequented by local cops is now accused of coaching women to sell their bodies out of the couple’s home.
Snip.
She also rejected suggestions that she may be a prostitute herself, despite her two previous convictions.
When Omotoya was nabbed alongside Michael, he led investigators to former Godley Police Chief Matthew Cantrell, who revealed that Ashley charged $1,000 an hour for sex with her, according to court documents.
Those same rates were repeated in messages on Ashley’s seized burner phone, the publication reported.
Here’s one of the saucier photos the Post has of Ashley Ketcherside:
And here’s her booking photo:
That is not a $1,000 an hour mug.
Oh, the Ketcherside’s were also evidently involved in a feud with Kayla Lain, a Godley ISD board trustee.
Ashley Ketcherside launched a podcast, “Champagne and Pearls,” in which she said she was determined to expose the truth. She spoke candidly and displayed social media posts from a woman she said she intended to pursue in court, including comments about what girls would learn from her at school.
Lain was a frequent topic, as she was also active in a community Facebook chat group. Ashley Ketcherside later sued Lain and seven others for injury to her reputation, but the case was dismissed.
If you already have two convictions for prostitution, and are alleged to be a part of a prostitution ring, starting a podcast to attack your critics is not exactly a sound strategy for “laying low.”
Prostitution, government corruption: Those are some awfully big city sins for such a small city as Godley…