Christopher Thomas Knox

A Hillsboro man found with a teenage girl in a snowbound vehicle earlier this month pleaded not guilty Monday to second-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse.

The Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office first made contact with Christopher Thomas Knox, 37, after he called to request help getting his rental car out of the snow near the Gnat Creek Campground along U.S. Highway 30.

When they arrived, deputies found through further investigation that the 13-year-old girl Knox originally introduced as his daughter was not related to him, and that she had left her home without the knowledge or consent of her parents.

Officers later determined Knox may have sexually abused the girl near her home in King County, Washington, and arrested him for second-degree attempted rape.

More information about the case was revealed during further investigation and led a grand jury to indict Knox on second-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse, Deputy District Attorney Beau Peterson said. He was also charged with luring a minor and online sexual corruption of a child in the first degree.

Knox’s bail was set at $250,000. His next court date is scheduled for March.