Woman sentenced 15 years for child sex crimes in Audrain County
MEXICO, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Barnhart woman was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to child sex crimes from 2018.
Jennifer Huddleston, 35, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor and first-degree promoting child pornography. She was initially charged with child sex trafficking, sexual exploitation of a minor, first-degree promoting child pornography and possessing child pornography, according to previous reporting.
“Jennifer Huddleston committed truly disgusting acts against a 7-year-old child.” Audrain County Prosecutor Jacob Shellabarger wrote in a press release. “For committing these acts, photographing them, and sharing and downloading images of child sexual abuse, our community must speak loudly and with one voice: this will not be tolerated. Those who cannot defend themselves need a community to stand for them, and Audrain County did.”
The release states Huddleston was also convicted and sentenced in 2023 for federal crimes relating to “child sexual abuse material.”
In December, a codefendant -- William Dahl -- was sentenced in December in federal court to 50 years in prison for child porn charges. He is also charged in Audrain County and Randolph County. He is currently being held in the Randolph County Jail.
In Randolph County, Dahl is charged with first-degree statutory rape, two counts of statutory sodomy and first-degree child molestation. A preliminary hearing in that case is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16.
Dahl is charged with several child sex crimes in multiple Audrain County cases. In one case from 2020, he is charged with promoting a sexual performance by a child, used of a child in sexual performance and two counts of second-degree statutory sodomy. In another case stemming from a 2018 incident, he is charged with first-degree child sex trafficking, sexual exploitation of a minor, first-degree promoting child pornography and possessing child pornography.
In a third Audrain County case, Dahl is charged with forcible sodomy. In a fourth case that lists 2005 as the date of the crime allegedly taking place, he is charged with forcible rape and attempted forcible rape.
A hearing for all of those charges is set for 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 22. In another case, he is charged with first-degree statutory rape, first-degree statutory sodomy and first-degree child molestation. The next court date for those charges is not listed yet on Casenet.
