Woman accused of statutory rape, child porn possession requests change of venue
MARIES COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
A woman accused of several child sex crimes in Maries County requested a change of venue on Tuesday.
Rikki Lynn Laughlin, 24, was charged with second-degree statutory rape, possession of child pornography, tampering with a victim, sexual exploitation of a minor, tampering with physical evidence, furnishing pornographic material to a minor and second-degree child sex trafficking.
An arraignment is set for 9 a.m. Monday.
Laughlin was described as an employee at a high school in court documents. The probable cause statement does not detail Laughlin’s position with the high school, and redacts the name of the school, aside from “High School R-1 School District.”
According to the probable cause statement, Laughlin sent pornographic material of herself to an under-aged student through the social media application Snapchat. The child victim told law enforcement there was physical contact at the school after Laughlin reached out on the app, the statement says.
The probable cause statement says the victim told law enforcement that Laughlin invited him to her house when her husband was not home, but the victim came up with reasons for not meeting because he did not feel comfortable. The victim then told law enforcement that Laughlin told him to delete all images and videos she sent and acknowledged she could get jail time, the statement says.
Laughlin was interviewed by law enforcement on Oct. 14 and she denied the allegations, according to the statement. She allegedly said she shut down contact several times until law enforcement told her they knew about videos and photographs being sent to a minor, the statement reads. She allegedly said she didn’t know he was a minor until the day before law enforcement arrived.
