in sexual intercourse with someone younger than 17 . Taylor also was charged with third-degree patronization for allegedly paying the underage victim $ 300 to have sex , Brower said . According to Brower , the rape charge carries a possible four-year prison term , and the patronization charge , a misdemeanor , could bring up to a year in prison . Asked whether Taylor knew that the victim was underage , Brower said `` ignorance is not an excuse '' for having sex with a minor . Aidala said after the bail hearing that Taylor `` is denying and preparing to fight each and every one of those charges . '' Aidala said that `` no violence , no force , no threat , no weapons '' was involved in the case . He noted that the rape charge against Taylor was for consensual sex with a minor and said Taylor denied it . St. Lawrence and Brower said the alleged victim , since March a runaway from New York 's Bronx borough , was allegedly brought to Ramapo by a pimp on Wednesday night . When the pimp and the girl returned to New York early Thursday ,
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Hall of Fame football linebacker Lawrence Taylor was charged Thursday with rape and patronizing a prostitute in a case involving a 16-year-old girl , police in Ramapo , New York , said . Taylor 's attorney said the former New York Giants star denied the charges and will fight them . `` My client did not have sex with anybody . Period , '' Arthur Aidala said , adding : `` Lawrence Taylor did not rape anybody . '' Taylor appeared at an afternoon court hearing where a judge set bail at $ 75,000 . Taylor was not asked to enter a plea and left the courthouse after posting bail . Seeing television cameras outside the courthouse , Taylor said , `` I 'm not that important '' as he walked away . Taylor , 51 , was arrested in a Holiday Inn room a few hours after the alleged rape took place , according to Christopher St. Lawrence , the town supervisor and police commissioner in Ramapo , about 30 miles northwest of New York City . Police Chief Peter Brower said Taylor was charged with third-degree rape , a felony , for allegedly engaging