photo by: Chris Conde/ Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured in September 2018.

A Lawrence man already facing multiple counts of sex crimes against a child — each carrying the possibility of life in prison — is now facing an additional count of equal severity.

After listening to the victim testify at a preliminary hearing earlier this month, Douglas County District Court Judge Sally Pokorny added another count of rape to the case against Dustyn D. Polk, 43.

On Thursday, Polk pleaded not guilty to all charges.

He told the judge he understood the seriousness of the accusations and agreed to waive his speedy trial rights to give his appointed attorney, Angela Keck, ample time to work on his case.

“Whatever time it takes to get through this appropriately so that my innocence can be proven … I would much rather do that,” Polk said.

The judge scheduled Polk’s trial for Aug. 5.

Polk now stands charged with seven counts in all, according to the district attorney’s office: three counts of rape, three counts of aggravated criminal sodomy and one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. According to the complaint, the alleged crimes began in 2015, when the victim was 10, and continued through early 2018.

Lawrence police began investigating the case after receiving a report from the Kansas Department for Children and Families that the victim had disclosed at summer camp that she’d been abused, according to a police affidavit previously reported by the Journal-World.

The girl told police that Polk raped and otherwise molested her over several years, describing a number of incidents in detail. In speaking of one encounter, the girl told police that she had a “feeling of wrongness” and felt that she was an “evil person.”

When police interviewed Polk, he said that while he didn’t have a clear memory of the abuse, “he was sure” he had molested the girl, according to the affidavit. Investigators also wrote, “Dustyn called himself a monster several times and said he was sorry.”

Polk, charged and arrested in August, remains jailed on $500,000 bond.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has declined to release Polk’s mugshot to the Journal-World.