WASHINGTON -- Howard University's men's soccer coach has been accused of soliciting a person who he believed to be a 13-year-old girl online for sexual purposes.

The Louisa County Sheriff's Office said Joseph E. Okoh, 40, allegedly traveled about 90 miles from his home in Arlington for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with a person who he thought was a 13-year-old girl. The person was actually an undercover agent.

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Okoh was arrested Friday evening and charged with one felony count of using a communications system to solicit a person under 15 years old with lascivious intent. He is being held without bond at the Central Virginia Regional Jail pending a bond hearing on Friday.

Howard University issued a statement on Monday saying Okoh has been suspended from all university activities pending completion of the investigation.

"Howard University has zero tolerance for the violation of any university policy and our code of conduct," the statement said.

Officials declined to comment further, saying the issue is a personnel matter.

A student from Howard University said he and many others believe the allegations are false.

"I absolutely don't believe it," said student Anton Render. "Like I said, when I first heard it today, it was just very, very shocking. I guess all they can do now is just sit back and just wait."

Another student also refuted charges.

"No one has any facts at this point," said student Charleston Turnley. "There's lots of those types of things going on these days. I think that a lot of people just really want to hear the truth, and really are slow to accuse and slow to assume."

Okoh's resume indicated he coached at a number of high schools in northern Virginia.

Officials at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria and Wakefield High School in Arlington said Okoh coached at the schools briefly in the late 1990s.

Okoh is in his first season as head men's soccer coach at Howard, according to the university's Web site.

He came to Howard from Shepherd University in West Virginia, where he was the school's all-time winningest coach.

Under Okoh, the Shepherd program ranked in the Division II Top 25, and he maintained a 95-percent graduation rate on his team. Several players received Academic All-American honors.

His record during his last three years at Shepherd was 38-13-9.

Okoh played for Metropolitan State College of Denver and graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in geographic information systems.