PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) – A member of the Plymouth Board of Selectmen charged with online solicitation of a minor claims he was testing the system and didn’t intend to have relations with a young girl.

Sean Dodgson, 45, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Plymouth District Court on Monday and was released on $15,000 bail. He’s charged with two counts of enticement of a child and six counts of attempting to commit a crime. Dodgson was among 11 men, ranging in age from 17 to 57, arrested Friday and Saturday in “Operation Trenchcoat,” run by the Plymouth District Attorney’s office and police.

“Hopefully the evidence will show, as I have said from the very beginning, that we’re not guilty,” Dodgson said as he left the courthouse.

Prosecutors said Dodgson, using the screen name “alaughahugandasmile,” sent a sexually explicit image and messages to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl. Police had posed as minors as part of the sting.

Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Beth Kusmin told the court that Dodgson thought he was communicating with two girls, ages 13 and 14. Kusmin said Dodgson “went on to suggest that all three of them get together and have sex.”

Dodgson went to a Burger King but left after concluding that undercover police were there, District Attorney Timothy Cruz said. He then sent a message to police that said “mission accomplished.”

“It’s not unusual for someone to deny being involved,” Cruz said.

Dodgson was ordered to stay off the Internet. He has an Aug. 24 pretrial conference. His attorney, Jack Atwood, did not immediately return a telephone call for comment. The maximum penalty for each count is five years in prison.

Dodgson said he doesn’t plan to step down from the five-member Board of Selectmen.

Two New Hampshire residents also were among those arrested. The rest of the defendants are from Massachusetts.

Eight others besides Dodgson were arraigned in Plymouth and also entered not guilty pleas.

One person was arrested by New Hampshire authorities and one in Attleboro, Mass.

The sting also involved authorities from state police and federal customs agents. It was overseen by investigators in the Plymouth County Sheriff Department’s High Tech Evidence Analysis Team, or HEAT.

AP-ES-07-17-06 1849EDT