photo by: Mackenzie Clark

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, which houses Douglas County District Court and a number of other criminal justice services at 111 E. 11th St., is pictured April 8, 2020.

Story updated at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday:

A Lawrence man was arrested Saturday and charged Monday with a sex crime against a teen.

Randy Lee Flaherty, 35, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated sexual battery, according to the Douglas County Jail booking log.

On Monday, he was charged in Douglas County District Court with attempted rape, a high-level felony. The charging document in his case alleges that he “climbed into bed with victim, toward the perpetration of the crime of Rape.”

Flaherty attended his court hearing via videoconference from the jail.

“Given the circumstances, I want to say that I shouldn’t be released, but I know that I need to do some things on the outside and I need to take care of some things, and $60,000 is a lot of money,” Flaherty said of the bond amount that the state had requested the judge set.

Flaherty said that a relative is “the only one in my corner,” and that person doesn’t have that kind of money.

“I have a job — maybe I’ll have a job after this,” Flaherty told the judge. “But I mean, I work my (expletive) off every day, all day. I always have. … I have a place to stay when I get out of here, and I have support when I get out of here. I just — $60,000 is a lot.”

When Douglas County District Court Chief Judge James McCabria asked him to clarify what he meant when he said he shouldn’t be released, Flaherty said he meant “just in my own head, with God.”

“I feel like I should be out,” he said. “I feel like I can change some things in my life.”

Ultimately, the judge set Flaherty’s bond at $50,000 cash or surety. Should he make bond, he will have pretrial supervision with GPS monitoring. He is to have no contact with the alleged teenage victim or other witnesses.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office declined to release Flaherty’s booking photo to the Journal-World, but he is described in jail records as a 5-foot-9 white male with brown hair and blue eyes.