LAKE MARY, Fla. (AP) A former NASCAR driver has been arrested on a federal charge of trying to entice a minor into sex.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that 59-year-old Rick Crawford was arrested Thursday in Lake Mary after he had been communicating about sex with an undercover sheriff’s deputy posing as a 12-year-old girl.
Authorities say Crawford and the undercover deputy were communicating for more than two weeks when he negotiated a time and place to meet up.
Court records show Crawford agreed to pay between $50 and $75 and that they would meet in a parking lot.
Crawford told investigators he didn’t believe the girl was 12 and would not have followed through with sex if she turned out to be underage.
Crawford raced in the NASCAR truck-series from 1997 to 2013.
