Alongside BOPTROT, the FBI also initiated Operation Crabgrass in an effort to investigate allegations specifically centered in Eastern Kentucky.

According to the indictment, Smith had extorted a total of $13,750 from Theresa Brown, the wife of a convicted drug dealer, in exchange for obtaining an early release for her husband.

[4] Smith intended the money to be contributed to the 1991 Kentucky gubernatorial election campaign of U.S. Representative Larry Hopkins.

Smith contested the charges throughout the proceedings, initially claiming that they were politically motivated given their proximity to that November's election.

[8] In 1997, Governor Paul Patton issued a proclamation restoring Smith's civil rights and granting him the ability to vote despite his felony convictions.