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A special education teacher in the United States accused of grooming a student says he initiated their relationship - and she believed he was of legal age.
25-year-old Rikki Lynn Laughlin faces a raft of charges related to the 16-year-old boy, including possession of child pornography, attempted statutory rape andsexual trafficking of a child.
Laughlin, a teacher at St James High School in Missouri, allegedly sent pornographic material to the youngster, asking him to send nude photos in return.
Prosecutors allege the married mother-of-one used Snapchat to send nude photos and a video of her performing a sex act before asking that he return the favour.
After the school district alerted police, detectives visited the student and he admitted the pair had kissed and “things progressed fast” after she first made contact via Snapchat.
Rikki Laughlin is charged with a raft of serious offences. Photo / Maries County Sheriff
He said she had invited him to her home for sex while her husband was away, but he did not take up the offer because he “did not feel comfortable”.
Detectives found some of the offending material on the student’s phone and, according to a probable cause statement from the Maries County Sheriff’s Office, Laughlin did not deny receiving photos from the boy but insisted he initiated and she “was not aware he was a minor until yesterday”.
Cops also found a video on Laughlin’s phone that matched a description given by the boy.
Laughlin is due in court on November 14 for a bond hearing and the student has returned to school.
A Reddit user claiming to be his classmate said he had been celebrated on his return.
“I go to St James and honestly this shook me to my core, knowing there was a teacher involving themselves with students I know scared me. What if this happened to me or my friends?” they wrote.
“What really got to me was how people reacted. When the student came back to school everyone started congratulating him, praising him and people on Snapchat are posting about how pretty she is and how lucky he was, that is absolutely disgusting.”
