NORTH HAVERHILL — A 38-year-old White River Junction man is facing attempted kidnapping and sex crime charges after police said he tried to convince a person he thought was a 15-year-old girl to run away from home with him.

Erwin Feeney pleaded not guilty to the attempted sexual assault and attempted kidnapping charges during a virtual arraignment in Grafton Superior Court on Tuesday.

Grafton Superior Judge Lawrence MacLeod took the case under advisement Tuesday morning and had not issued a ruling on whether to release Feeney with conditions or hold him without bail by late Tuesday afternoon, according to court documents.

Feeney, who appeared on video for the hearing from a room in the Grafton County Department of Corrections on Tuesday morning, hung his head as the prosecutor and defense attorney questioned Lebanon Police Officer Eric Hunter about the texts leading up to his Oct. 19 arrest.

Police posted a personal ad on a social media site three days earlier, posing as a 19-year-old girl. When Feeney responded to the ad, investigators claimed to be a 15-year-old girl instead, according to an affidavit written by Hunter.

The two kept talking over text messages, with Feeney sending two sexually explicit messages, and asking that the girl to “pack a bag,” and move out when her mother wasn’t home, according to police. He said she should take a bus to meet him in Lebanon and that she should turn off her phone’s tracking device, Hunter said.

In one message Feeney wrote, “This is all you have left to do because after tomorrow there’s no looking back,” Hunter testified at Tuesday’s hearing.

Defense Attorney Emily Wynes argued that most of the discussions were not sexual in nature. Additionally, she argued that Feeney didn’t necessarily come to the site looking to talk to a minor.

“At least in the first instance, Erwin was searching for an adult,” she said in court.

A ruling had not been issued by Tuesday afternoon, and a next court date for Feeney had not been scheduled, according to court documents.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@ vnews.com or 603-727-3216.