LAFOLLETTE, TN. (WLAF)-  A Knoxville man has pled not guilty on the sole count of rape of a child charge in Campbell County.

Jacob Ryan Kirby, 25, Knoxville, was arrested last month on the sealed indictment. On Monday, he pled not guilty and was given an Aug. 4 court date.

The charges stem from a Jan. 6 incident in which police allegedly caught Kirby having sex with a 12-year-old girl, according to authorities.

Around 5am that day, LaFollette Police Officer Dillon Marny saw a car in a restaurant parking lot. The “engine was running, and the windows appeared to be fogged up,” reports said.

When Marny approached the vehicle, he saw Kirby and the juvenile.

The case was investigated by Det Sgt. Jami Wadle who presented it to the grand jury earlier this month. During the investigation, it was allegedly discovered Kirby had explicitly traveled to LaFollette to meet the child.  

After hearing the evidence, the grand jury indicted him on one count of rape of a child.

On March 20, LaFollette Police Chief Matt Forsyth, assisted by the US Marshalls Service, arrested Kirby at his 4709 Zirkle Dr. home in Knoxville.

He was brought back to face charges in Campbell County by LPD Officers Cheyenne White and Kaleigh Norman.

“I am very proud of the officers,” Forsyth said. “They were able to push this case through the system.”

Following a 2024 change in the law, a conviction of rape of a child is now punishable by life in prison, life in prison without the possibility of parole or death.

Kirby is currently free on a $100,000 bond. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 4/14/2025-6AM)

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