Staff Reporter

Charles Hitzeman entered a not guilty plea to additional charges in the attempted kidnapping case against him in Perry Circuit Court on Thursday.

Hitzeman, 36, of Hazard, was originally indicted by a Perry County Grand Jury in June on charges of attempted kidnapping, second-degree fleeing or evading police, resisting arrest and first-degree persistant felony offender when he allegedly tried to abduct an eight-year-old girl from a home on Broadway in May.

A superceding indictment was recently handed down, which added new charges of first-degree attempted sexual abuse and first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor.

In Perry District Court in June, officers from the Hazard City Police Department testified that Hitzeman allegedly approached the home where the girl was on more than one occasion on the day of the attempted kidnapping. Police said that he talked to the child about the house and told her she was wearing a pretty bathing suit. He then allegedy offered her $500 to come with him. When she said no, police say Hitzeman upped the price before the child’s grandmother interrupted the conversation.

After beginning a search of the area for Hitzeman, the Hazard City Police apprehended him around Cornell Street behind the fire department within an hour of receiving the call about the attempted kidnapping. Detective David Wiseman with the Hazard City Police Department also testified in June that police found a picture of a small child in a bathing suit with Hitzeman and when they conducted a search of his vehicle, several more similar pictures were found inside a jacket in the trunk of the car.

Hitzeman is being held in the Kentucky River Regional Jail on a $100,000 cash bond. His trial is scheduled for December 17.