JULY 2--It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
In the two months since a winning Powerball ticket catapulted him into the 1 percent, James Farthing has spent most of his time residing in Florida and Kentucky.
Specifically, county jails in those two states.
On April 28, Farthing claimed a $167.3 million jackpot, the largest in Kentucky Lottery history. He had purchased the winning $2 ticket at a convenience store in Georgetown, a city where he shares an address with Linda Grizzle, his 77-year-old mother.
Flanked by Grizzle and his girlfriend, a beaming Farthing was presented with an oversize check by lottery officials who announced that mother and son would be splitting the nine-figure windfall. Farthing, 50, was not quoted in a Kentucky Lottery press release, which only identified him by his middle (Shannon) and last names.
Following the Powerball announcement, Farthing and his girlfriend flew to a beachfront resort in Florida to celebrate his good--and immense--fortune. Before traveling south, however, Farthing 
failed to take care of one crucial matter: getting permission from his parole officer to leave the Bluegrass State.
Farthing has been categorized as a “persistent felony offender” by Kentucky law enforcement officials. He has a 16-page rap sheet and a dizzying criminal record that spans 35 years and includes convictions in at least nine counties and from every corner of Kentucky’s penal code.
According to court records, Farthing strangled a girlfriend; sold cocaine to an undercover police informant; escaped from a prison work detail; bribed a corrections officer to deliver Xanax and Oxycodone into a state facility; possessed stolen firearms; and even involved his mother in a marijuana smuggling plot for which they were both indicted.
Farthing has been locked up in at least 25 different correctional institutions, where he has spent, in aggregate, nearly 30 years in custody. During that time, Farthing continued to commit crimes while incarcerated and compiled a prison disciplinary record rife with assaults, narcotics possession, loansharking, gambling, drug smuggling, and positive tests for alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and depressants. He was also cited for an improper relationship with a female canteen staffer, charging inmates for the return of their stolen items, and “sending large amounts of money to people Internal Affairs cannot connect to him.”
Pictured in the above mug shot array, Farthing, a one-man crime wave, was frequently removed from a facility's general population and placed in “administrative segregation” for the “safety and security of the institution.”
The heavily tattooed Farthing--he has “Momma’s Bad Boy” inked across his chest--was regularly denied parole, in part due to a myriad of institutional infractions. In a November 2022 denial order, the Parole Board cited Farthing’s “poor institutional adjustment,” his “drugs or alcohol involvement,” and history of parole violations in ruling that, “The inmate is not a good parole risk at this time.”
When he did secure his freedom, Farthing, on multiple occasions, proceeded to violate terms of his release and was returned to custody. For example, four months after being freed from prison 
in 2016, Farthing had his parole revoked when he tried to game a drug test (in an attempt to hide his use of Xanax and an opioid). In 2021, his parole was revoked after he tested positive for marijuana.
This cycle of parole violations added a total of eight years to Farthing’s time behind bars, during which he worked for 80 cents an hour as a unit janitor and recreation aide. His prison employment history, however, was far from exemplary. Once, an administrator recommended the inmate’s dismissal from a yard work assignment, writing, “Farthing has not been a very good worker since Day One...Pays other people to do his work.”
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A day into his recent short-lived Florida vacation, Farthing allegedly punched a guest in the face during an 11 PM argument at the TradeWinds Resort in St. Pete Beach. When a cop sought to break up the fight, Farthing kicked him in the face “in an attempt to injure and or incapacitate myself,” according to an arrest affidavit sworn by the officer.
Farthing then refused to place his hands behind his back and “attempted to flee on foot out of the hotel,” reported Deputy Nicholas Areostatico, who said the kick left him with “pain in my face” and “swelling and redness” under his right eye.
Farthing was arrested and booked into the Pinellas County jail for battery on a law enforcement officer, a felony, and misdemeanor counts of resisting police and battery. In addition to the Florida charges, a fugitive warrant was lodged against Farthing for, once again, violating his Kentucky parole (this time for not securing travel permission).
After several weeks in the Florida jail, Farthing was extradited in late-May to Kentucky, where he was detained in the Scott County lockup. Aware that their inmate was newly wealthy, Kentucky jailers kept Farthing’s name and photo off an online jail roster due to publicity and safety concerns.
According to the Kentucky Parole Board, Farthing waived his right to probable cause and final revocation hearings, opting instead to serve an additional month in custody. He was freed from the Scott County jail last week.
Two days after his release, Florida prosecutors filed a felony information formally charging Farthing with battery on a law enforcement officer, as well as resisting, a misdemeanor. The State Attorney dropped the remaining simple battery count (for allegedly walloping the male hotel patron).
Free on $11,000 bond in the Florida case, Farthing, who has pleaded not guilty, is scheduled for a July 14 arraignment. The battery count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
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The sprawl of Farthing’s criminal career is detailed in records TSG obtained from courts across Kentucky, as well as 800 pages from his Department of Corrections file, material that was released in response to an open records request.
Farthing’s criminal history includes “extensive” teenage arrests for theft, criminal mischief, reckless driving, and receiving stolen property, according to one prison memo. Known as “Goggles” in his younger days, Farthing completed 10 years of school, with his last classes taken while he was detained in a juvenile justice facility. He later got his GED in state prison.
Farthing's initial adult arrests occurred in quick succession for crimes like burglary, receiving stolen property, criminal mischief, theft, and possession of drug paraphernalia. His first serious prison term came 
when a judge sentenced him to two-and-a-half years in connection with three separate cases.
Upon his release, Farthing lived in Lexington, drove a Cadillac coupe, and committed vehicle break-ins and other property crimes. He was also caught with four stolen rifles, burglary tools, and was busted for cocaine trafficking.
Farthing pleaded guilty to an assortment of felonies and was judged to be a “persistent felony offender” whose “imprisonment is necessary for the protection of the public.” He was sentenced to consecutive prison terms totaling 23 years. Farthing subsequently escaped from a prison work program, but was captured 90 minutes later about a mile from the facility. Farthing, who was 25 at the time, copped to another felony and was sentenced to four additional years.
The cascading criminal cases continued while Farthing was in the Kentucky State Penitentiary. As alleged in a felony indictment, Farthing and his mother were involved in a scheme to smuggle marijuana into the maximum security facility. In return for Farthing’s guilty plea to a criminal syndication rap, prosecutors dismissed the charge against Linda Grizzle, noting that her son was the “principle actor in this case.” Farthing was sentenced to 10 years, eight of which were to run consecutive to his existing prison terms.
Following the pot plot indictment--and in response to Farthing’s “history of attempts to smuggle drugs into prison”--corrections officials placed him in solitary confinement for 90 days. Near the end of that disciplinary segregation term, Farthing assured officials that he “has learned his lesson and is ready to return to the yard,” according to a prison memo.
In December 2010, Farthing again pleaded guilty to a felony contraband charge. This time, he bribed a corrections officer to smuggle in packages containing tobacco, pot, painkillers, and more than 300 Xanax pills. The guard, a married father of three who had previously declared bankruptcy, was fired and indicted. He eventually pleaded guilty to a felony count and was sentenced to three years in prison. Farthing received an extra year in custody.
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Farthing was first paroled from Kentucky's state prison system in March 2014. A Department of Corrections discharge notice states that, “Subject will reside with his mother who will provide means of support while on supervision.” At the time of her son’s release, Grizzle, who is identified as a banker in court records, was at her Florida vacation home and asked that parole officials “contact her to set up a day for inspection so she can fly in.”
Two months after Farthing walked out of the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex, he was pulled over for driving 105 mph. When a patrolman approached Farthing’s Lincoln Continental and 
smelled pot, he was subjected to a frisk that dislodged baggies containing 10 grams of pot and 74 Oxycodone pills.
Farthing, who claimed to be working for lawn care and roofing companies, was arrested on felony and misdemeanor drug charges. Grizzle posted $10,000 bond to get her son out of the county jail. Farthing pleaded guilty to the narcotics counts and was sentenced to 15 months in jail. His parole was subsequently revoked.
There is a “Groundhog Day” quality to Farthing’s criminal history, which seems to feature a bountiful supply of offenses on loop.
After being paroled--for the third time--16 months earlier, Farthing was arrested for domestic violence and strangulation in November 2020. Police found his girlfriend in the street crying hysterically and wearing only a hoodie. A 911 caller reported that “the female was half dressed and her boyfriend was trying to kill her.” The victim told cops that Farthing “had got mad and started tearing things up at the house and throwing” items at her. Farthing then began choking her from behind. The woman “thought she would eventually pass out,” police reported. After being pushed to the ground, the victim said, she was able to flee Farthing’s residence.
Officers noted that the woman’s neck was red and her legs had “numerous” bruises--which she said were a result of “past abuse” by Farthing. The victim, who had blood on her knee and foot and what appeared to be pieces of glass on her legs, was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
During police questioning, Farthing denied touching his girlfriend, but “stated that he ‘booped’ out because he was out of his medication for anxiety and she got scared.” A subsequent search of Farthing’s home turned up marijuana, scales, drug paraphernalia, pipes, and sandwich bags.
Farthing pleaded guilty to reduced charges and got a year in jail. A judge ordered him to have no “unlawful contact” with the victim, and he was directed to undergo mental health, domestic violence, and anger management assessments.
Though the judge suspended all but 30 days of that custodial sentence, Farthing’s stay at the Scott Detention Center was extended after he was convicted for punching his cellmate “multiple times in the back of the head.” He would again be busted in July 2021 after striking a different inmate in the face during an argument over the TV remote. “Farthing was subsequently removed from the 
pod and placed in isolation,” according to a court citation.
Farthing pleaded guilty to the 2021 assault. His parole was revoked and he eventually was returned to state prison to serve two more years. He was freed on parole in September 2023.
Sentencing minutes from both jail assault cases show that a judge spared Farthing from paying court costs “due to indigency.”
In the future, he will likely not be afforded such a courtesy. (8 pages)