Former Auburn Church of Christ pastor Jody Lusk was appointed a public defender last week after telling the judge he had no assets to pay for a private attorney.

LeiLani Krashin out of Hopkinsville was appointed to represent Lusk and she entered a not guilty plea on behalf of her client Thursday in a Logan County Circuit Court. Entering the plea is standard during the arraignment process. According to the Commonwealth Attorney’s office, Lusk can change the plea at anytime himself or ask for a speedy trial.

After Lusk was arrested he was quoted saying he would not fight the charges against him because he knew what he did was wrong.

Lusk was indicted last week on six counts of second degree rape and six counts of sodomy for engaging in sexual/deviant intercourse with a 13-year-old which was a family friend.

Lusk turned himself in Friday, Sept. 6 after seeing he was wanted by the FBI on a television in a motel room in Morgantown.

Lusk said his intent was to run away with the teen but later changed his mind and returned her home after taking her out of state.

Lusk staged his disappearance at Briggs Lake Friday, Sept. 4 by vandalizing his own vehicle and turning his boat upside down in the lake before texting his wife a license plate number and the name of the lake. Lusk admitted he did that to buy time to get out of town with the youth.

Lusk will next be in court Oct. 1 for a pretrial conference.