A 39-year-old Kapolei High School counselor is scheduled to face a Circuit Court jury in July for allegedly soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Kendrick Padilla entered a plea this morning of not guilty before Circuit Court Judge Richard Perkins, who set the week of July 18 as his trial date.

Padilla also requested permission to leave the state from May 28 to June 5 to visit his grandmother on the East Coast.

He is free after posting bail of $10,000.

A grand jury indicted Padilla on May 12.

The Department of Education said he has been with the school since 2009, when he was hired as a counselor.

Padilla was placed on paid leave after his arrest.

Solicitation of a minor for prostitution is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

The prosecutor’s office said Padilla met the minor girl, who was a runaway, after she posted an ad for herself on the internet under a fictitious name.

When the girl arrived at Padilla’s home, he asked the girl whether she recognized him, according to the prosecutor’s office. Padilla told the girl that he was her former high school counselor.

According the the indictment, Padilla solicited the girl from March 23 to April 4.

The girl was later caught in an undercover sting and taken to the juvenile detention facility in Kapolei, where she told a counselor about her encounter with Padilla; the counselor, in turn, reported it to police, the prosecutor’s office said.