A man from Hope, Arkansas  – population 9,599 and hometown of former President Bill Clinton – pleaded innocent to enticing an Essex, Vermont girl to engage in sexual activity.

On June 30, Nicholas Shelton, 24, of Hope, Arkansas, pleaded not guilty in federal court to a single-count indictment that charges him with using a facility of interstate and foreign commerce to entice, persuade, and coerce a minor to engage in sexual activity. He’s being held until trial.  

Court records say that in March 2023, Shelton began communicating with a 15-year old minor female victim from Essex, using various social media platforms, telephone conversations, and text messaging. The communications between Shelton and the minor victim included sexually explicit content. 

Shelton traveled to Vermont in early April and met with the minor victim, who hid him in the garage of her family’s home. After her parents discovered Shelton, they instructed him to leave and to leave their daughter alone. Instead, Shelton and the minor victim left together, which triggered the filing by the parents of a missing persons report with the Essex Police Department. 

Three days later, Shelton and the minor victim were discovered camping in a wooded area near Sand Hill Park in Essex, Vermont. Shelton was taken into custody. Shelton gave consent for law enforcement to search his cell phone, which is where his communications with the minor victim were discovered. 

On his public Facebook page, Shelton said he became engaged in March.

Hope is also the birthplace of former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.