Married teacher, 26, admits bombarding pupil, 16, with nudes and trying to pressure him into having sex

The Sun

6 days ago

A MARRIED teacher has admitted bombarding her teen pupil with nudes and pressuring him to have sex - but avoided jail.
Rikki Lynn Laughlin, 26, sent a cache of explicit content, including naked pics and a video of herself using a sex toy, to the 16-year-old boy over Snapchat.
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Laughlin also begged the student to come over and have sex with her while her husband was away.
The 26-year-old was a special needs teacher at St James High School in St James, Missouri, during the time of the crimes between September 8 and October 19.
Laughlin pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of endangering the welfare of a child without sexual contact, KRCG reported.
Maries County officials first launched an investigation after a Phelps County detective tipped them off about an inappropriate relationship at the school, KSDK reported at the time, citing a probable cause statement by the County Sheriff's Office.
The teen then told cops that Laughlin approached him online and sent him nudes and video of herself using a dildo, before asking for images from him in return.
She reportedly asked him to delete the sexually explicit content out of fear of getting into legal trouble, or of people finding out.
While he did delete some of them, he showed several others to the police.
He told cops that "things progressed fast" after the Snapchat exchange, and that the mum-of-one had kissed him in a classroom.
She allegedly invited him to have sex, but he "made excuses" because "he did not feel comfortable", according to a probable cause statement by the Maries County Sheriff's Office.
Laughlin reportedly claimed to police that the teen made contact first - but did not deny the relationship had occured.
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She claimed: "I was not aware he was a minor until yesterday."
The former teacher was charged in October 2024 with a seven alleged sex crimes against the student - including statutory rape and possession of child pornography.
On Thursday, she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of endangering the welfare of a child.
Laughlin was sentenced to five years of probation.
There full list of charges she initially faced is felony counts of possession of child pornography, tampering or attempting to tamper with a victim in a felony prosecution, statutory rape – 2nd degree, sexual exploitation of a minor, tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution, furnishing pornographic material to a minor, and sexual trafficking of a child – 2nd degree.
After Laughlin's arrest, the school district Superintendent Tim Webster said: "The District takes these matters seriously and reported allegations to appropriate outside agencies, including law enforcement.