Ex-DJ Dave Herman pleads not guilty to sex charge

NEWARK, N.J. — A former New York City radio personality has pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempting to transport a 7-year-old girl to the U.S. Virgin Islands for sex.

Dave Herman's lawyer entered the plea during an arraignment in federal court in New Jersey Thursday. Herman, 78, best known for hosting WNEW's "Rock & Roll Morning Show" for more than two decades, remains held without bail. He faces a life sentence if convicted.

Herman, whose daughter lives in Airmont, was arrested in October at a Virgin Islands airport.

Authorities say Herman, who lived primarily in St. Croix, thought he was communicating with a 36-year-old single mother with a young daughter, and tried in multiple telephone and online conversations to arrange illegal sexual encounters with the child.

The girl and her mother actually were personalities created by an undercover investigator from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office who began communicating with Herman the year before on

— a raunchy website where Herman allegedly wrote under the handle, David121482. The profile for that user read he was "interested in other incest families, mothers who are involved with their children and all extreme or unusual family relationships."

But Herman's lawyer has said his client only engaged in banter about the child because he was interested in the woman.