Disgraced former NFL star Lawrence Taylor pleaded guilty this afternoon to lesser charges of sexual misconduct and soliciting a prostitute in connection with his rape arrest last year and will avoid jail time.
Taylor, 51, is accused of having sex with a 16-year-old Bronx runaway at a Rockland County hotel in May in exchange for $300.
The former Giant linebacker entered the plea inside a Rockland County courtroom flanked by his lawyer Arthur Aidala.
He answered “yes” when asked if he had paid for sex.
“She told me she was 19,” he added.
Taylor, who lives in Florida, will also ordered to pay $1,500 in legal fees.
As part of the plea deal, Lawrence’s defense team requested he be put on probation for six years. A judge will decide the terms of Taylor’s probation on March 22.
LT had pleaded not guilty to third-degree rape, patronizing a prostitute, sexual abuse and endangering a child.
Taylor faced up to four years behind bars had he been convicted on all the charges.
He had previously rejected a plea bargain that would have sent him to prison for six months.
Court papers in a separate federal case in Manhattan against the girl’s alleged pimp, Rasheed Davis, 36, say Taylor admitted to sex acts with the girl, but was told she was 19.
Taylor, who led the Giants to Super Bowl victories in 1987 and 1991, has been free on $75,000 bail since his arrest on May 6 at a Holiday Inn in upstate Montebello.
Taylor, through his lawyer, had claimed he was the victim of a setup, insisting from the start that he never had intercourse with the girl.