photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured in March of 2022. The center houses the Douglas County District Court and other county services.

A Lawrence man accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl was ordered on Friday to stand trial after the girl testified that he drunkenly pulled her into his bedroom and touched her inappropriately.

Isaiah Jamin Duckworth, 35, was originally charged with one felony count of aggravated sexual battery, but after Friday’s preliminary hearing in Douglas County District Court, the state added an additional charge of felony kidnapping.

The charges relate to an incident that was reported in October 2022 in the 100 block of North Michigan Street.

At Friday’s hearing, the girl, age 16, said Duckworth had been living in the same home as her for a couple of months. She testified that on the evening of Oct. 10, 2022, her parents weren’t at home and she went to Duckworth’s bedroom to ask him for some cheese dip for a snack. She said Duckworth had been drinking vodka that day and was intoxicated.

When the girl entered the bedroom, she said Duckworth was on a video call with his girlfriend. He introduced the girl to his girlfriend, then ended the call and started talking to the girl.

“At first we talked about normal things,” the girl said. But soon she said Duckworth started complimenting her on her appearance, commenting on how tall she was and touching her legs.

“I started to feel like something was going to happen,” she said. “At that time I wasn’t scared but I was nervous.”

She said that Duckworth also described a sexual encounter he previously had with a woman, and that he said he would not “cross that line” with the girl.

Then, the girl said she excused herself from Duckworth’s room and went to check on another child in the house. Afterward, she said she tried to go back to her own room, but that Duckworth grabbed her by the arm when she passed by his room, pulled her inside and closed the door.

The girl testified that she felt scared and emotionally drained as Duckworth continued to describe his past sexual encounter. She said he sat down on the bed with her and touched her legs and between her legs, without removing her clothes.

“He was trying to demonstrate on me,” she said.

At that point, the girl said she asked Duckworth to stop and tried to get up and leave, but that he kept trying to pull her back. She said she was finally able to get away and flee the house. Then, she said she went to a friend’s house to talk about what had happened, after which she reported the incident to police. Duckworth was arrested at around 4:15 p.m. on Oct. 11, 2022.

Duckworth’s defense attorney, Branden Smith, claimed that Duckworth was not touching the girl in a sexual way but was instead trying to boost the girl’s self-esteem. He said Duckworth repeatedly told the girl he wasn’t going to try anything “weird.”

“This was not a self-esteem boosting exercise,” Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden countered. He introduced the new kidnapping charge and accused Duckworth of trying to conceal his actions from anyone else who might be in the home by pulling the girl into his room and shutting the door.

Judge Sally Pokorny agreed to bind Duckworth over for trial on the kidnapping charge as well as the aggravated sexual battery charge and set a trial date of June 5.

Duckworth is being held at the Douglas County Jail on a $50,000 bond. He is also waiting to be extradited to California to face charges there. Assistant District Attorney Christen Secrest said during Duckworth’s first appearance in October that the state believes the charges in California relate to possession of a firearm.