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Miami University professor went to Missouri for sex with underage teen, feds say

University: He's no longer employed here
Posted at 8:35 AM, Jun 27, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-27 13:44:54-04

OXFORD, Ohio -- A Miami University professor traveled to Missouri for sexual activity with a person he believed to be an underage girl, according to a federal indictment handed down Wednesday.

Kevin Connor Armitage, 52, was an associate professor of individualized studies. Miami spokeswoman Claire Wagner said he resigned June 13. His biography was no longer on the university's website as of Wednesday morning.

"Miami is appalled and shocked to learn of these allegations of illicit sexual behavior," Wagner said in a statement. "It is especially repulsive that the allegations involve conduct that would endanger a minor. Under no circumstances is this type of unlawful behavior tolerated by our campus community."

According to an affidavit, an FBI employee was monitoring public message threads on a website that hosts a discussion forum and private messaging services about prostitution.

Armitage was a senior member of the website, according to the affidavit, and he wanted a recommendation for a trip to Kansas City.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Missouri said Armitage had 576 postings that detail his prior experiences with prostitutes in Ohio, Arizona, Tijuana, Kansas and Colorado.

He was given a phone number for a different FBI employee, who was posed as a 14-year-old girl. After several conversations, the affidavit says, Armitage agreed to meet the girl's cousin at a restaurant in Kansas City. 

An undercover agent, posing as the cousin, met Armitage at the restaurant, and he was arrested. Missouri's age of consent is 17.