A man accused of sexually abusing two 13-year-old girls pleaded innocent to four felony charges.
Justin Lucas Smith, 18, of Green River appeared in the Third District Court of Judge Nena James at an arraignment to four counts of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
If Smith is found guilty of all four felonies, he could face a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison and a maximum fine of $40,000. A jury trial has been scheduled to take place Oct. 10, at 9 a.m.
The cases stem from two separate incidents.
According to court documents, on April 20, 2017, Green River Police officer Joshua Hutson, who works as a school resource officer at Lincoln Middle School was monitoring lunch when he was approached by two students. They told the Hutson they wanted to report an inappropriate relationship between an 18-year-old and a 13-year-old girl.
One of the reporting students said he used to date the 13-year-old girl who’s in the relationship with Smith, but now they are just friends.
The boy told the officer, he, the girl and a few others were hanging out with Smith in his garage listening to music. The boy said Smith was a high school senior who likes to hang out with seventh and eighth grade girls.
After everyone else had left, the boy, the girl and Smith sat in the back of a car listening to music. Smith then put his arm around the girl and they started “making out” the boy said.
When they stopped kissing, Smith invited both of them to hang out in his grandfather’s camper. Once in the camper, Smith and the girl went into one of the rooms and shut the curtain door. The boy said he goofed off a few minutes before opening the door to see what Smith and the girl were up to.
He saw both of them with their shirts off.
The girl also had her bra off. The boy told Smith he would leave them alone for a few minutes, but after 5 to 10 minutes he looked into the room again through a crack in the door and allegedly saw the girl touching Smith inappropriately. The boy told them he was leaving and left.
He later texted the girl about what he had seen and she denied touching Smith.
Officer Hutson reviewed the texts before interviewing the girl who confirmed what the boy had told him and added that after she allegedly touched Smith he made some food and they laid in bed watching Youtube until she fell asleep.
Smith was also interview and allegedly admitted to all of the things the boy and girl said he did.
In the second case against Smith, documents state on April 20, 2017, that during another investigation against Smith it came to light that Smith also dated another 13-year-old girl who he had also been physical with.
When this 13-year-old girl was contacted, she told the officers she and Smith met in September of 2016, but they didn’t start hanging out until November of 2016. She said they started dating in November and he was 17-years-old at the time. She told the officer she and Smith touched each other and kissed, but never had intercourse. She admitted that she felt intimidated by Smith because he was so much older than she was.
She said her father found out about the relationship and he told Smith to stop contacting her or he was going to turn him into the police.
The girl said Smith had become really clingy and was continuing to text and call her. Finally, her father had Smith’s number blocked from her phone.
The father was interviewed also and added that he told his daughter not to hang out with Smith because he was too old. He noticed that his daughter was having conversations in the middle on the night, so he checked his daughter’s phone to see who she was texting and calling.
He said he confronted his daughter and she admitted that they were seeing each other, but he was unaware of any physical contact in the relationship and thought they were just hanging out.
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