Pals of boy bombarded with nudes by teacher Rikki Lynn Laughlin ‘praised him for how lucky he was', classmate reveals
Teacher Rikki Lynn Laughlin was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
3
3
3
The 26-year-old was a special needs teacher at St James High School in Missouri at the time of the crimes in 2023.
She is said to have sent the 16-year-old boy barrages of explicit content via Snapchat, including naked pics and a video of herself using a sex toy.
The teacher also begged the teen to come and have sex with her while her husband was away.
But a Reddit user claiming to be one of the victim's classmates has revealed the appalling reaction of some fellow students upon 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," they wrote.
"What if this happened to me or my friends?"
They added: "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."
An investigation was launched into the case after a Phelps County detective tipped authorities off about a rumoured inappropriate relationship at the school.
The student told cops he had been approached online by Laughlin, who sent him explicit images of herself before asking for his pics in return.
Major update on teacher, 34, who had BABY with boy, 13, & was exposed when 'his dad realised he looked like her child'
Laughlin reportedly asked him to delete some of the images out of fear of being caught.
But while the teen deleted some of the pictures, he showed others to the cops.
He also told officers that "things progressed fast" after he was sent the Snapchat messages - and that the teacher had even kissed him in a classroom.
When she allegedly invited him to have sex, he "made excuses" as he "he did not feel comfortable" - according to a probable cause statement by the Maries County Sheriff's Office.
Laughlin is reported to have told cops that the student made contact first, but didn't deny the encounter had occurred.
She claimed: "I was not aware he was a minor until yesterday."
The teacher was charged in October 2024 with seven alleged sex crimes - including statutory rape.
She pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to five years of probation.
Laughlin was fired from her teaching job after she was charged.
Following her arrest, the school district Superintendent Tim Webster said: "The District takes these matters seriously and reported allegations to appropriate outside agencies, including law enforcement.
"We have been actively cooperating with these agencies since the initial report."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Secret 'heiress' says she has DNA proof she is daughter of famed artist who left behind $40m fortune
A California woman has launched a high-stakes legal battle in Manhattan Surrogate 's Court, claiming DNA testing proves she is the secret daughter of trailblazing sculptor Fred Eversley - and that she's entitled to a share of his $40 million estate. Kelly Krechmer, 54, says she has long known the truth of her parentage because her late mother, Patricia, told her for decades that Eversley was her father - and now, she says, genetic evidence backs her up. 'I sent my saliva to 23andMe in July 2024,' Krechmer wrote in a May 13 legal filing. 'The results confirmed my lifelong understanding that Frederick Eversley was my dad.' Eversley, a pioneering black expressionist celebrated for his sculptures housed in renowned art galleries including the Museum of Modern Art, London 's Tate Gallery, and the Smithsonian, died on March 14 at the age of 83. The former engineer-turned-artist left behind $27 million in personal property and $12 million in real estate, court records show. His will, signed September 4, 2024, left the vast majority to his wife of 12 years, Anna Maria Larsson Eversley, and $250,000 each to his siblings, Donald and Rani. Krechmer's name was nowhere to be found, and in her filing, she alleges she confronted Eversley decades ago at his SoHo studio, only to be met with a cold denial. 'After I explained to the Decedent that I believed he was my father, he denied paternity and refused to take a paternity test, stating that he 'can't have kids because I work with toxic substances,' she said. He allegedly rejected further requests to test. Krechmer claims she emailed the artist's studio with her DNA results in August 2024, just a month before his will was finalized but never heard back. She suspects her message was 'intercepted' by his wife. Attorneys for the estate have hit back hard. 'We are aware of the lawsuit brought by a woman who now claims to be Fred Eversley's daughter, despite never having had any relationship with him, never having been acknowledged by him, and playing absolutely no part in his life,' said lawyers at Silberman Zaretsky PC in a statement said in a statement to the New York Post. 'This is a transparent and opportunistic attempt to exploit a moment of deep loss for personal gain. The Estate considers this claim entirely meritless and will respond accordingly through the proper legal channels.' Born in Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood in 1941, Eversley was an engineering whiz who designed high-powered acoustic devices before turning to art in the late 1960s. He became a central figure in the Light and Space movement, with his precision-cast sculptures fetching six-figure sums at auction in his later years. More than a year after his death, his legacy is being pulled into a bitter courtroom clash over whether a woman he never named or acknowledged has a rightful place in his lineage - and his fortune. A hearing in the case is set for January 14, 2026.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Girl, 2, was beaten with paddle, shot with BB gun then sold to drug dealer, cops fear
A 2-year-old girl was allegedly beaten with a paddle, shot with a BB gun, and handed over to a meth dealer by her mother - and more than three years later, police still don't know where she is. London Kerr, then 2-years-old, was last seen in April 2022 at a southeast Oklahoma City home. The toddler, who would now be five, is still considered missing and endangered as officials with the Oklahoma City Police say they are still searching for her. Amid the gut-wrenching search, her mother, Ashley Rowland, 39, and her boyfriend, Joshua Denton, 40, were arrested on Tuesday on multiple complaints related to child abuse and sexual abuse. Despite their arrests, police say there's been no credible information about London's whereabouts. The harrowing case only began to unravel a year after London was last seen alive, when the Oklahoma Department of Human Services attempted to serve a pickup order in April 2023 and was unable to locate London, according to court records. Rowland initially told authorities her daughter was staying with her biological father in Georgia, however that statement was later proven false. In a follow-up interview, Rowland allegedly admitted to giving London to a man named 'Carlos,' who she said had sold her methamphetamine in 2022. 'He was possibly London's father, but Ashley was not sure. Carlos had told Ashley he was going back to Mexico,' her arrest affidavit stated. Rowland also told police she did not give Carlos any of London's personal identification documents, The Oklahoman reported. Oklahoma City police have not yet confirmed Carlos's existence or involvement. Rowland was first arrested on a child abandonment charge back in October 2024 but was bonded out. She later admitted to police that she had lied and that Carlos did not sell or use meth. 'We don't have very credible information from the people that assumed responsibility or had custody of this child,' Oklahoma City Police Sargeant Dillon Quirk told WFSB. 'So, when we take over an investigation, we have to go back and look at what has already been documented.' Investigators eventually uncovered additional disturbing allegations of abuse in interviews with other children connected to Rowland and Denton. According to affidavits, a 15-year-old boy told police Denton hit London with a wooden paddle and shot her with a BB gun. He also said Denton duct-taped him to a chair, beat him with a belt, threatened to kill him if he spoke to anyone and even threatened to 'make him disappear.' In March 2025, Denton's 8-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son were also interviewed. The two children alleged that their father poured hot sauce in London's eyes, locked her in a closet, and threatened to beat them if they told Rowland. The girl also said Denton had sexually abused her and warned her she would die if she spoke out. The two minors also told investigators Rowland was aware of the abuse. Rowland, however, denied knowledge of the abuse, and insisted Denton was never violent toward London. Moore Police later searched a storage unit tied to Rowland and Denton, where they recovered a BB gun, a wooden paddle labeled 'The Last Resort,' a pink baby blanket, diapers, a pink shoe, and a car seat, the Oklahoman reported. Complicating the timeline further, a daycare worker told police in early 2025 that she last saw London with Rowland at a gas station over two years earlier. At the time, the worker noted visible bruises on London's head, but according to the affidavit, Rowland said her toddler's injuries were from a car accident. Despite extensive searches of properties, storage units, and electronic devices, no trace of London has been found. Police said the case is now being led by Oklahoma City detectives, with assistance from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Moore Police previously worked the case but turned it over after exhausting leads. 'Time is of the essence, still hoping for a positive turnout in this case, and we don't have a lot to go off of right now, which makes it extremely difficult,' Quirk told KOCO-TV. If still alive, London would turn six in early September. Denton now faces nine felony charges, including six counts of child abuse, one count of forcible sodomy, one count of lewd or indecent acts to a child, and one count of a pattern of criminal offenses. Rowland has been charged with enabling child abuse. Anyone with information about London's whereabouts is urged to contact the Oklahoma City Police Homicide Tip Line at 405-297-1200.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
FBI and NSPCC alarmed at ‘shocking' rise in online sextortion of children
Tech companies including Snapchat and Facebook reported more than 9,600 cases of adults grooming children online in the UK in just six months last year – the equivalent of about 400 a week. Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), have grown increasingly alarmed about the growing threat from sextortion and other crimes targeting teenagers. The US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) last year received 546,000 reports from tech firms of adults across the world soliciting children – a 192% increase from 2023. As many as 9,600 of these reports came from the UK in the first six months of 2024. Snapchat reported far more troubling material to NCMEC than any other platform in that period, its records show. The children's charity, NSPCC, described the figures as 'shocking' and said they were likely an underestimate. The NCA has launched what it called 'unprecedented' campaigns in the UK to alert teachers, parents and children to the dangers of sextortion, in which victims are blackmailed into sharing abusive, explicit images. The NCA said: 'Sextortion is a heartless crime, which can have devastating consequences for victims. Sadly, teenagers in the UK and around the world have taken their own lives because of it.' The NCMEC data is significant as it is based on reports from online platforms and internet providers – such as Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok – rather than victims, who can be reluctant to disclose the abuse. Tech firms are obliged under US law to flag suspicious material to NCMEC. The figures show that Snapchat reported about 20,000 instances of concerning material – including sextortion and child sexual abuse images – in the first half of last year. This is more than the combined number of reports from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly known as Twitter), Google and Discord. It is understood that Snapchat revised its policies for reporting this content last year and that as a result, subsequent figures will be lower. Rani Govender, of the NSPCC, said sextortion and other financially motivated sexual crimes had a 'devastating' impact on youngsters, affecting their ability to trust or seek help and in some cases leading to suicide. NCMEC said it was aware of 'more than three dozen' teenage boys worldwide who had killed themselves after falling victim to sextortion since 2021. Govender said some tech firms were 'inadvertently turning a blind eye to the abuse occurring on their watch' by introducing protections such as end-to-end encryption, which make it harder to spot harmful content. Unlike some other platforms, Snapchat does not have end-to-end encryption on its text-based chats. Police forces are increasingly concerned that predators are turning to ever more sophisticated attempts to target children online. The Guardian has uncovered a 101-page manual giving detailed instructions on how best to exploit young internet users, including advice on the best phones, encryption, apps and alter egos to use. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The dossier teaches users how to turn victims into 'modern-day slaves' by acquiring explicit images before they then feel 'compelled to comply with the extortionist's demands'. The guide was allegedly produced by a 20-year-old man called Baron Martin from Arizona, US, who was arrested by the FBI in December and calls himself 'the king of extortion'. Martin claims it has been 'the catalyst for thousands of extortions', according to the US Department of Justice. According to researchers, the sextortion manual was distributed on a number of 'Com networks' – online communities where mostly young men share sadistic and misogynistic material and encourage each other to commit crimes. Milo Comerford, of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) thinktank, said: 'The continued accessibility of this kind of chillingly detailed sextortion guide points to the growing risk posed by toxic online communities that exploit and abuse children.' The FBI has identified scores of online gangs who collaborate to identify vulnerable victims before targeting them using a feigned romantic interest to obtain compromising photos. Those are then used to blackmail the victim to either provide further explicit images, self-harm, or carry out another act of violence or animal abuse. Comerford, of the ISD, said 'robust multi-agency' safeguards were urgently required to build awareness of the risks of sextortion among young people, parents, guardians, teachers and others. He added: 'These transnational networks are comprised of a constantly shifting landscape of groups that use social media platforms to identify, groom, and harm their victims, and in some cases engage in mass violence.' Snapchat and Facebook have been approached for comment.
