Crime & Safety

Charged with Soliciting a Child, Barnes Claims he was Set Up

Marvin Barnes, a former PC hoops star facing charges of soliciting a child after allegedly offering to pay a 17-year-old Cranston girl $200 for sex, told the Associated Press last week that he is the victim of a set up.

Marvin Barnes, a former Providence College basketball star, is denying accusations that he tried to pay an underage girl for sex after meeting her at a Dunkin' Donuts in Cranston and is claiming he is the victim of a set up.

Barnes told the Associated Press last week that he didn't know the girl who agreed to meet him was 17 and that he went to the meeting because he was concerned that her calls to him could hurt his job the Met School in Providence.

Barnes was arrested by Cranston Police in January after police monitored his meetup with the girl. At the meeting, police said, Barnes offered her $200 for sex.

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Barnes, 59, is due to be arraigned on a charge of indecently soliciting a child next month, the AP reported.

In the interview, Barnes said it was a "classic" set up and ""I didn't go there to have sex. I went there to clear the air."

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The juvenile is a Cranston student of the Met School, according to court records.

Barnes helped the Providence Friars to the Final Four in 1973 and played professionally with the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, San Diego Clippers and eventually stopped playing in 1980.

Police said Barnes wired the girl $50 to show he was willing to pay her for sex. He had a few hundreds dollars in his possession when he was arrested.


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