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Judge aquits Matthew Durham of 3 abuse charges

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EDMOND (AP) -- A federal judge has acquitted an Oklahoma man on three charges accusing him of sexually abusing children at a Kenyan orphanage, but has denied him a new trial on four other counts.

A jury found Matthew Lane Durham guilty in June on seven counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Russell acquitted the 21-year-old Durham on three of those counts, ruling that government prosecutors hadn't proved he engaged in sexual acts with three of the alleged victims.

Prosecutors say Durham targeted orphans while volunteering at the Upendo Children's Home in Nairobi between April and June 2014. Jurors cleared Durham of accusations he planned to abuse the children before leaving the U.S.

No sentencing date has been set.

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