HOUSTON, Texas - September 3, 2008 - U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent, charged last week with committing sex crimes, is now part of an exclusive but notorious club: federal judges who have been indicted while on the bench.

"It is extremely rare. We’ve gone [nearly] 20 years now since the last one," said Arthur D. Hellman, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Kent was set to make his first court appearance today on federal charges of abusive sexual contact and attempted aggravated sexual abuse. He has been a federal jurist in Galveston federal court since President George H.W. Bush appointed him in 1990.

If convicted on the one count of attempted aggravated sexual abuse, Kent could face up to life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Each of the two counts of abusive sexual contact carries a sentence of up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Kent’s attorney, Dick DeGuerin, has said his client is innocent and will stay on the bench while he awaits trial.

Kent’s former case manager, Cathy McBroom, accused the judge of physically harassing her over a four-year period, starting in 2003. The final incident was in March 2007, when she said the judge pulled up her blouse and bra and tried to escalate contact until they were interrupted.

Her accusations set off investigations by the Judicial Council of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which suspended Kent in September 2007 for four months with pay but didn’t detail the accusations against him.

As part of the council’s punishment, Kent was transferred to the Houston federal courthouse, where McBroom was transferred after reporting her accusations. Kent had been the only U.S. District Court judge in Galveston.

The last federal judge indicted was Robert F. Collins, in February 1991, for scheming with a New Orleans businessman to split a drug smuggler’s $100,000 payoff. He was convicted and sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.

Four judges were indicted in the 1980s. Before then, one would have to go back about 50 years to find a sitting federal judge who was indicted, Hellman said.

Hellman said some indicted judges have stayed on the bench while others have stepped down on their own.

Only Congress can remove a federal judge through the impeachment process, which starts with the House voting for impeachment and then the Senate holding a trial.

Since 1803, the House has impeached 13 judges and the Senate has convicted seven of them. Two others resigned after being impeached by the House, according to the Federal Judicial Center’s Web site.