Kyle Massey didn't know he'd been charged with sex offences until he read news reports.
It was revealed on Tuesday (29.06.21) the 'That's So Raven' actor had missed an arraignment hearing the day before after being accused of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes but his attorney has insisted the 29-year-old star wasn't properly served or notified of the court meeting.
The lawyer, Lee A. Hutton III, said his client believes the allegations are motivated by revenge because the accuser didn't succeed in a civil suit in 2019 - which he claimed at the time was an extortion attempt - and told TMZ he "intends to aggressively defend these accusations again and will seek civil damages from those that refuse to hear the facts."
The lawyer added: "We plan to seek an early dismissal finally putting this bad behaviour to rest."
Washington prosecutors have alleged Massey exchanged messages with a 13-year-old girl during the period between 1 December 2018 and 31 January 2019.
According to a court motion earlier this month, Massey cannot use the internet without a computer monitoring system to track his "sexually explicit communication" with minors and is banned from having contact with minor children "except in the presence of a responsible adult."
The teenager's mother had reported the former Disney star to the King County Sheriff's Office in February 2020 and told them her daughter had received "explicit material" from him via Snapchat.
The woman told the authorities the actor had known her daughter since she was four years old, so was aware of her age, and had asked for the youngster to be sent to Los Angeles to stay with him and his girlfriend.
The mother initially sued Massey in a California civil court but ultimately felt he "didn't have enough money to make the case worth it," so called the Sheriff's Office in Washington, where the family had lived at the time of the alleged message exchange, to pursue the criminal allegations.
In 2019 Massey was the subject of legal action from a daughter and mother identified only as Jane and Anne Doe, who sued for $1.5 million and accused him of "attempting to commit a lewd act with a minor."
At the time, the 'Corey in the House' denied the allegations against him in a statement shared via his attorney and accused the family of extortion.
He said: "No child should ever be exposed to sexually explicit materials and I unequivocally and categorically deny any alleged misconduct.
"In early 2019, Plaintiff's attorneys demanded $1.5 million threatening to go public to destroy my career if I did not comply.
"My family and I rejected this extortion attempt, because I have faith that the legal process will reveal the truth. I have retained attorney Lee A. Hutton to guide my family and me through the process and I ask my fans and the general public not to jump to conclusions based on the allegations alone but reserve judgment until the whole story comes to light, proving these allegations baseless."
