A FBI undercover investigation has lead to the indictment of a former professor from Miami University in Oxford. Federal agents who were monitoring public message threads on a forum about prostitution came across a post allegedly from 52 year old Kevin Armitage, looking for a recommendation in the Kansas City area.
The FBI set up a sting to connect Armitage with an agent posing as a 14 year old girl. When the Miami Professor of American Studies traveled to Kansas to meet the teens cousin, he was arrested. Court documents related to the case show that Armitage had made over 500 postings on the prostitution forum detailing prior experiences in Ohio, Arizona, Colorado and Tijuana.
You can read the entire news release from the DOJ below:
Ohio University Professor Indicted for Traveling to Missouri for Sex with a Minor
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 was a professor of individualized studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He resigned two weeks ago
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.
Project Safe Childhood. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."