photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Calvin L. Payne is pictured at a hearing on Sept. 12, 2023, in Douglas County District Court. Payne is charged with the rape of a 13-year-old girl and other crimes.

A convicted sex offender charged with multiple sex crimes against a 13-year-old girl, formerly of Lawrence, will engage in mediation talks with the state, the man’s attorney indicated Tuesday in Douglas County District Court.

The man, Calvin L. Payne, 33, of Topeka, faces one count of rape and one count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, both off-grid felonies that could result in a life sentence if Payne is convicted, as the Journal-World has reported. Payne also faces one count of electronic solicitation of a child, sexual exploitation of a child by possessing images, and interference with law enforcement by concealing or destroying evidence, all felonies, according to charging documents.

The charging documents allege that the sexual abuse occurred between May 1, 2022, and July 23, 2022.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, but Payne’s attorney, Angela Keck, requested a continuance because the state had just provided a large amount of new evidence in connection with the case, she said.

Keck added that she had also been talking with Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden about an Independent Assessment Conference to mediate a possible resolution to the case.

Seiden said the state did not object to the continuance and that he would plan to meet with Keck and the mediator, former Johnson County Judge Kevin Moriarty, after Keck had time to review the new evidence. Judge Sally Pokorny then scheduled a status conference for Payne on Oct. 18 for the parties to update the court on the IAC process.

According to the police affidavit in support of Payne’s arrest, Payne was in contact with the girl over Facebook Messenger and frequently texted her sexually charged messages hinting at a sexual relationship. On multiple occasions he asked the girl to send him nude images, including video, of herself, which she did. Payne is also alleged to have sent the girl a nude image of himself.

The messages exchanged between Payne and the girl were discovered after the girl’s guardian confiscated her phone and reviewed her messages.

In an October 2022 interview the girl told police that in June of 2022, Payne met the girl at her home, where the girl sat in the front seat of his car while he proceeded to touch her inappropriately. The girl described the touching as “weird” and “not a good feeling” and said that when it happened she “froze,” according to the affidavit.

The girl described that in another incident later that summer, she was again seated in Payne’s car and they were driving around Lawrence when Payne touched her sexually.

In the police interview with the girl, a detective asked her how she felt after the second incident, and the girl said when she got home she cried and thought “why did this happen” before she “zoned out” and did not know what to think.

Payne is currently being held at the Douglas County Jail on a $100,000 cash or surety bond. He has been in custody since his arrest in May.

Payne is a registered sex offender after a 2005 conviction in Plano, Texas, for aggravated sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, according to the Kansas Sex Offender Registry. He also has a conviction for robbery in Shawnee County from 2011, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records.