Ohio professor planned sex with 14-year-old girl in KC, federal indictment says

An Ohio professor accused of traveling to Kansas City to have sex with a 14-year-old girl was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury.

Investigators say Kevin Connor Armitage, 52, who was a professor of American Studies at Miami University of Oxford, Ohio, set up the meeting through a website forum, where he made contact with an undercover agent posing as a minor.

The indictment, returned Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, accuses Armitage of traveling across state lines to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

The FBI affidavit described Armitage as a "senior member" of the website forum, saying he had made 576 postings detailing prior experiences with prostitutes in Ohio, Arizona, Tijuana, Kansas and Colorado.

Armitage, according to the affidavit, had noted he would be visiting Kansas City and was looking for recommendations.

Undercover FBI agents provided a phone number that Armitage believed would connect him with a 14-year-old girl. After several conversations, Armitage allegedly agreed to meet the 14-year-old's cousin at a restaurant in the Country Club Plaza.

Armitage met an agent posing as the cousin and was arrested.

A spokesperson for the Miami University confirmed that Armitage had been a professor but said he is no longer employed at the university. It was unclear Tuesday when his tenure ended.

The spokesperson, Claire Wagner, said she could not comment on the indictment, but said the university seriously responds to accusations of criminal assault and sexual assault.

"Systems are in place for supporting victims and survivors of sexual assault," she said, "and to encourage reporting."

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Kansas City said the case against Armitage was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide effort by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child exploitation and abuse.

This story was originally published June 26, 2018 at 5:05 PM.