Michael Scott Fitzgerald, who was captured in a Cortez hotel on Jan. 24, was arraigned Monday in Topeka, Kansas, on a sixth sex assault charge.
A district judge in Shawnee County District Court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, according to WIBW news.
A grand jury filed the felony sex charge March 28.
According to WIBW, the act occurred on Jan. 24, the day he was arrested in a room at the Days Inn by Wyndham Cortez on Main Street.
According to an affidavit filed by a Cortez police officer, three police officers found Fitzgerald, 47, in a hotel room with a 14-year-old girl from Kansas. He was jailed at Montezuma County Detention Center until he was extradited to Topeka.
Fitzgerald was indicted on five felony charges including soliciting a child, contributing to a child’s misconduct (sheltering a runaway) and indecent liberties with a child.
After Cortez police officers detained Fitzgerald, the girl was evaluated at Southwest Memorial Hospital and placed in custody of Montezuma County Social Services. Social workers made arrangements to return the girl to Kansas.
The Cortez affidavit states Topeka Police Detective Scott Dickey located Fitzgerald’s black Dodge pickup using Mopar vehicle tracking and informed Cortez police of Fitzgerald’s location.
When the three Cortez police officers knocked on the hotel room door, Fitzgerald opened the door wearing underwear and a T-shirt, the police affidavit said. Some details in the affidavit have been redacted, but in court on Friday, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Margeson said the girl was wearing just her underwear when police arrived.
He remains in custody in Shawnee County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond, WIBW reported, and is scheduled to appear in court on May 20.
