KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Ohio university professor was indicted
by a federal grand jury today for traveling to Kansas City, Mo., to engage in
sexual activity with a person whom he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.
Kevin Connor Armitage, 52, was charged with traveling across
state lines to engage in illicit sexual conduct in an indictment returned by a
federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s indictment replaces a federal
criminal complaint that was filed against Armitage on May 31, 2018.
Armitage is a professor of American Studies at Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio.
According to the affidavit filed in support of the original
criminal complaint, an FBI online covert employee was monitoring public message
threads on a website that hosts a discussion forum and private messaging
services for men and women to communicate regarding prostitution. Armitage
indicated that he would be visiting the Kansas City area and was interested in
a recommendation.
Armitage, whom the affidavit describes as a senior member of
the website, has 576 postings that detail his prior experiences with
prostitutes in Ohio, Arizona, Tijuana, Kansas and Colorado.
Armitage was provided a phone number for a different FBI
online covert employee, who was posing as a 14-year-old female. After several
conversations, the affidavit says, Armitage agreed to meet the 14-year-old’s
cousin at a restaurant on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. An FBI
undercover employee, posing as the cousin, met Armitage at the restaurant and
he was arrested.
The charge contained in this indictment is simply an
accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be
presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or
innocence.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Teresa Moore. It was investigated by the Department of Health and Human
Services, Office of Inspector General and the FBI.
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