A Pittsburgh man serving a prison sentence for arranging a meeting with a 15-year-old girl in Cranberry Township in 2023 was granted permission Tuesday to represent himself in his post conviction relief effort.

Maksudjon Kosimov, 25, is serving a 20 to 40 month sentence in state prison following his guilty plea in July 2024 to two felony counts of unlawful contact with a minor filed by township police in July 2023.

On July 27, 2023, Kosimov traveled to the township to meet the girl, who was actually FBI agents posing as a young girl, and was arrested, according to police. Before the meeting, which he arranged, he sent explicit videos of sex acts to the agent decoy, police said. Agents had been communicating with Kosimov for several days before the meeting took place, police said.

Kosimov was held for court on one of the charges at a preliminary hearing in September 2023 and the second count was added in March 2024.

In addition to his prison sentence, Kosimov was found to be a tier 2 offender under Megan’s Law and is required to register with and report to state police for 25 years.

He was represented by attorney Matthew Ness through his sentencing, but attorney Matthew Kalina was appointed later to represent him and appeared in Common Pleas Court Tuesday. Kosimov’s post conviction relief application names Ness.

In the application, Kosimov claims unspecified violations of the state or U.S. Constitution, ineffectiveness of counsel and that his guilty plea was unlawfully induced. He also claims he had never been arrested in his native land or the U.S. and county law enforcement officials violated a cultural agreement and used unlawful means of entrapment to arrest him. He is asking to be released from custody.

An Uzbekistan native, Kosimov participated in Tuesday’s hearing remotely from the state prison in Greene County with assistance from an interpreter.

Judge Joseph Kubit granted his request to represent himself after he said he understood the ramifications of proceeding without an attorney, and granted a 20 day extension from the previous March 18 deadline to file an amended post conviction relief application.