Former NASCAR driver Crawford arrested in underage sex sting

[March 06, 2018]  Former NASCAR driver Rick Crawford was arrested last week in Florida and charged with attempting to entice a minor for sex as part of an internet sting operation.

The 59-year-old Crawford, who ran in 336 truck series races from 1997-2012, was taken into custody last Wednesday in Lake Mary, just outside Orlando.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Seminole County, Crawford answered an online advertisement posted Feb. 10 by an agent posing as a man selling sex with his 12-year-old daughter.

Authorities allege Crawford answered the ad and proceeded to spend more than two weeks communicating with the agent to arrange a meeting, sending numerous explicit emails and text messages.

The complaint alleges Crawford agreed to meet the father and his daughter in a restaurant parking lot on Feb. 28. Prosecutors allege Crawford agreed to pay the agent $50 to $75 for sex acts with the fictitious daughter. When Crawford arrived for the meeting, the complaint alleges, he acknowledged his name was Mike and then answered yes when asked, "She's naked in the back do you want to get out and see her?"

 

After being read his Miranda rights, prosecutors claim, Crawford acknowledged taking part in the communications regarding a 12-year-old but only showed up to see if a father really would bring his daughter for the rendezvous and said that he would not have gone through with it had the child been underage.

According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel on Sunday, Crawford is being held on no bond.

Crawford won five races and had 75 top-five finishes in his 17-year Camping World Truck Series career.

--Field Level Media

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