Lukens Begins Sex Offense Jail Term

Former U.S. Rep. Donald Lukens began serving a 30-day jail term today for having sex with a teen-age girl while he was a congressman in 1988.

The 59-year-old Republican went directly to Franklin County Jail this morning about half an hour before a scheduled court hearing.

Judge Ronald Solove of Franklin County Domestic Relations Court said the hearing was scheduled to give Lukens the opportunity to post bond if he planned to appeal his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. Otherwise, Lukens would have been ordered to begin serving his sentence.

Solove said Lukens’ lawyer, Thomas Tyack, informed him that Lukens would report directly to jail.

Jail spokesman Rick Minert said Lukens will receive no special treatment.

“He will be treated like a misdemeanor offender,” Minert said at a news conference. “We’ll do whatever we can, as for any other inmate, to assure his safety.”

The jail holds about 700 men and women, Minert said.

Lukens was sentenced in June, 1989, to the jail term and fined $500 after a jury convicted him of a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the unruliness of a minor. Lukens, who is divorced, had sex with 16-year-old Rosie Coffman in his Columbus apartment.

He had been free on bond pending appeal. A state appeals court upheld his conviction in June. The Ohio Supreme Court, the state’s highest court, rejected his appeal in November.

Lukens lost his bid for a third consecutive term in the 8th Congressional District GOP primary in May. He finished a distant third in a field of four candidates.

He resigned from Congress on Oct. 24, two days after the House Ethics Committee voted to investigate new charges of sexual misconduct against him. He was accused of making improper advances toward a congressional employee.