Rep. Lukens Denies Having Sex With Teen

Rep. Donald E. (Buz) Lukens denied having sex with a teen-age girl but did offer her mother a job during a telephone conversation secretly recorded by the FBI and police and played for the jury today.

On the tape, played on the fourth day of Lukens’ trial on charges of contributing to the delinquency or unruliness of a minor, Lukens told the girl’s mother that her daughter had been calling, and he asked that she stop.

If convicted of the misdemeanor, the 58-year-old Republican could be sentenced to six months in jail and fined $1,000.

During the Nov. 11 conversation, Anna Coffman told the congressman that her 17-year-old daughter, Rosie, had confessed to her that she had sex with Lukens on Nov. 6.

“She was there with Mercedes. What Mercedes and I did was private. Your daughter had nothing to do with it,” Lukens replied, according to the tape.

Mercedes was the name used by Rosie Coffman’s friend, Michelle Foster, then 19, who had invited her to Lukens’ apartment that night.

Lukens also asked Anna Coffman whether she was still “interested in the job.” The mother testified earlier that Lukens made her a job offer during a meeting at a Columbus fast-food restaurant earlier in the day.

On Tuesday, Rosie Coffman testified that she had sex with Lukens on the eve of her 17th birthday and lied to Lukens, telling him she was turning 19 years old.