Published: March 15, 2008 11:13 pm      

Man pleads not guilty to sex charges

LEXINGTON — A 39-year-old Greensburg man pleaded not guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to using a computer to entice a 14-year-old Madison County girl to engage in sexual activity.

Timothy Scott Richerson was detained after a hearing at which a Kentucky State Police detective testified that the victim met Richerson on one of his MySpace pages where he represented himself as a 16-year-old male.

Richerson, a former youth minister at Freedom Baptist Church in Campbellsville, allegedly communicated with the victim via computer and telephone during the summer of 2007, and in September, he traveled to the victim’s residence in Madison County.

“Richerson picked up the victim and drove to a location near her residence,” a press release from the Eastern District Office of the United States Attorney stated.

Police were notified after the victim’s mother found sexually explicit text messages on her daughter’s cell phone.

Richerson recently was indicted on the charges and is scheduled to appear for a jury trial at 9 a.m. May 19 in federal court in Lexington.

He was arrested Oct. 12 in Greensburg by Kentucky State Police after a joint investigation by its Electronic Crimes Section and the Richmond Police Department.

Richerson faces a maximum prison sentence of life, however, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the United States sentencing guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of sentences.

The case was brought as part of the Eastern District of Kentucky’s efforts pursuant to Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative dedicated to protecting children from online exploitation and abuse.