Hensley says incident that led to arrest 'was just a joke'

Speaking to Lexington's WKYT-TV from the Harlan County Detention Center, former Gubernatorial candidate Otis Hensley professed his innocence in the face of charges that he solicited sex from two minors.

Acknowledging that he encountered the two girls in question at a grocery store in Harlan County, Hensley said his only interaction with them was part of a joke.

According to Hensley, he approached a woman at Don's Super Savers in Harlan who was near the two girls.

"Everybody knows me and I just walked up and said to this woman - I thought she knew who I was - and said 'Hey, Do you want to trade them girls for a good hog?'" said Hensley. "And I just walked off. That was all that was said."

"It was just a joke," he added.

When asked to clarify what his comments to the girls meant, Hensley said "I've been doing it for years...Its just being friendly and having fun."

Hensley said he was innocent of the charges against him and volunteered for a lie detector test.

Hensley is known as the "Bull man" after gubernatorial runs in the Democratic primaries of 2003 and 2007 found him hauling a giant fiberglass bull to campaign appearances. He received small percentages of the vote during his two long-shot bids.

When asked by reporters if he would consider running again, Hensley was not specific.

"I told [current Democratic Governor] Steve Beshear that if he was a good governor, I would not run and if he was a bad governor I would run," said Hensley.