Even if it wasn't legit, I would still treat something like this as, "Sure I'm not in Kentucky now, but I can't predict that I will never find myself in Kentucky interacting with any part of the legal system at any point in the future."

The prosecution was dumb enough to send such a shit document, they probably would have been dumb enough to drag him to court had he ignored it. I'm confident he would have ultimately prevailed, the question is, at what cost? Tens of thousands of dollars or more, in all likelihood.

> Since it didn't appear to be legit, couldn't he have ignored it?

Given that he contacted an attorney, who then reached back out to the government, the answer seems to be no, he could not have.

They would fine him, send it to collections and ruin his credit, garnish his wages, etc.