SUSPECT’S “MASTERPLAN” TO SCUTTLE HIS SENTENCING HEARING
JUNE 29, 2026 – written by WADE QUEEN
NOT THE BRIGHTEST BULB IN THE SHED: DUSTY ADRIAN HAMILTON JR., 43, OF PAINTSVILLE, KENTUCKY.
A Johnson County, Kentucky man who was set to be sentenced in a felony case is now facing another felony charge after allegedly calling in a bomb threat to the Judicial Center which prompted the evacuation of the Johnson County Judicial Center, according to the Kentucky State Police .
According to an arrest citation from KSP trooper Matt Spencer of Kentucky State Police Post 9 in Pikeville, troopers were dispatched around 8:54 A.M, Friday, June 26, to a reported bomb threat at the judicial center.
Troopers say they arrived about 9:10 A.M., along with Sheriff Scott Hazlette and members of the Johnson County Sheriff Office, Paintsville Fire and Rescue and Paintsville City Police.
Law enforcement authorities stated that the judicial center was cleared and searched, and no bombs were found.
Troopers then spoke with the deputy circuit clerk, who told them she received a call from a female who claimed there were “several bombs inside the building” and that “a judge’s life is on the line,” the arrest citation states.
The citation said that the employee who received the bomb threat call advised the female caller said, “Ma’am, I have reason to believe there are several bombs inside the building and a judge’s life is on the line.” The caller, the citation said, further advised that she had heard two men talking about it, but she did not know which judge, then hung up.
Police investigators were given a phone number connected to the call.
The KSP says the number was linked the call was traced back to a phone belonging to Dusty Adrian Hamilton Jr., 43, of Paintsville, KY. The arrest citation lists Dusty Hamilton’s address as 1112 Boyd Street in Paintsville.
The report also states police observed Dusty Hamilton standing beside the judicial center after it had been cleared.
However, Trooper Spencer wrote in the citation that the officers on scene determined that Dusty Hamilton had left the premises and did not appear in court following the bomb threat.
KSP says officers went to Dusty Hamilton’s address and made contact with him.
Dusty Hamilton allegedly told investigators someone told him court would not be held and he had returned home.
Troopers say Dusty Hamilton provided his phone number and they observed a call from his phone into the judicial center clerk’s office around the time the threat was made.
Dusty Hamilton told the troopers he had given his phone to an unknown woman at a gas station beside Hutch Chevrolet and claimed she must have made the threat before returning the phone, according to the citation.
Troopers seized the phone as evidence, read Hamilton his rights and arrested him, the report states.
Dusty Hamilton was charged with:
* TERRROSITIC THREATENING, 1ST DEGREE; a class C felony punishable by five (5) to ten (10) years in state prison.
After being taken into custody Dusty Hamilton was transported to and lodged in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center, where he remains incarcerated as late Monday afternoon, June 29..
Dusty Hamilton sentencing hearing in his original case has been rescheduled for Friday, July 10.
Dusty Hamilton has a sizable criminal past; since January 1, 2006,he has been arrested 18 times on nearly three dozen charges, all but one (Woodford County, KY.), in Johnson County and Fayette County KY.
The KSP Post 9 in Pikeville stated that the investigation in the case remains ongoing.
