A Kentucky man notorious for being arrested more than 1,300 times in his life died over the weekend at the age of 74, according to reports.
Henry Earl, whose criminal record made national news as the “world’s most arrested man,” was buried Thursday afternoon in Owenton Cemetery in the presence of staff from the Owenton Medical and Rehabilitation Facility where he spent the last years of his life.
Earl had no family members available to attend the ceremony. WLEX reported:.
“He was a unique person and had a great sense of humor,” said Ginny Ramsey, founder of the Catholic Action Center in Lexington, who knew him for decades.
This lovable drifter has been arrested approximately 1,300 times since the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan County Government’s Community Corrections Department began digitizing arrest records in 1992, most of them for alcohol-related offenses. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
He was arrested more than 1,500 times in 50 years. The Smoking Gun reported.
Earl told the Herald-Leader that he started drinking after his adoptive mother died when he was 18. He hadn’t had a steady job since 1969, when he worked as a motel waiter, but lost that job after showing up to work drunk.
According to The Smoking Gun, his first arrest was in July 1970, when he was arrested in Fayette County at the age of 20 for carrying a concealed weapon. Since then, he has spent more than 6,000 days in jail.
His surprising penchant for breaking the law led to him appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in 2004, although he was unable to attend in person because he was in custody at the time.
Earl’s 1,000th arrest came in 2008, when he was found drunk and passed out in someone’s backyard. He then entered a four-month rehab program, but was arrested again after four months of sobriety, according to the Herald-Leader.
His last arrest was in April 2017 for public intoxication, records show.
Ramsey said Earl was a charismatic and difficult character in the Catholic Action Center’s housing program, but deep down he was a free spirit.
The formerly homeless man was well known in the Lexington community and frequented bars at the University of Kentucky where he was given drinks by students.
He liked to tell people to call him “James Brown.”
“We said, ‘Henry Earl, be back by 9:30 or 10 o’clock. You can be there on the weekends until 11.’ He made the effort, but he just wasn’t ready,” Ramsey told WLEX.
“There’s no one who met Henry Earl and didn’t love him,” Ramsey said. “Henry Earl will never be forgotten.”
Earl became ill and spent the last seven years of his life in Owenton Medical and Rehabilitation Facility.
