Sebastian – Kaitlyn Hunt, who turned 19 earlier this month, is in more trouble for allegedly communicating with the 15-year-old girl she loves. The girls met when Hunt was 18 and the younger girl – name withheld because she is a minor – was 14 and they played basketball together at Sebastian River High School.
Not even the threat of significant jail time has kept the former cheerleader from contacting and seeing the younger girl. According to the state attorney’s office, the girls have exchanged 20,000 text messages, lewd photos and videos since March via an iPod Hunt had placed in the younger girl’s locker.
For that, a Circuit Judge Robert L. Pegg decided Tuesday, August 20, Hunt will be held without bail at the Indian River County Jail pending trial. In addition, the State Attorney’s Office in the 19th Circuit has added a new felony charge to her crimes – transmitting harmful materials to a minor.
Hunt, who could have accepted a plea offer from prosecutors of community control as late as last week, now faces up to 35 years in prison for her crimes. She still faces the original two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child between 12 and 16 years old. Her next court date is scheduled for September 26.
“She had the key to her own jail cell,” said Charles A. Sullivan, Jr., the Vero Beach attorney who represents the family of the victim. “She decided to step in, lock herself in there, and throw away the key.”
Hunt was initially arrested and kicked out of school in mid-February after the parents of the younger girl unsuccessfully asked Hunt to stay away from their daughter. The parents called the Indian River Sheriff’s Office, who investigated the allegations and forwarded the information to the State Attorney for charges. Hunt was 18 and the younger girl was 14 when they met and became intimate. In Florida, a child under 16 cannot consent to sex.
At the time, the parents of the younger girl said they did not want Hunt to serve jail time but they just wanted Hunt to stay away from their daughter, who they believed was too young to be in a relationship with the older Hunt. Hunt’s parents accused the younger girl’s parents of targeting the girls because they were involved in a lesbian relationship. The younger girl’s parents repeatedly denied those accusations.
Early on, State Attorney Bruce Colton said that his office would consider a plea offer for Hunt that would take into account the alleged “romantic high school relationship.” In most cases, a person convicted of such charges would be forced to register as a sex offender. However, five years ago, Florida passed a “Romeo and Juliet” amendment to the law, which allows a defendant to ask a judge to waive the requirement given the nature of the relationship.
That all went out the window two weeks ago, when the parents of the younger girl discovered she and Hunt were still communicating and seeing one another. They immediately alerted the sheriff’s office, who took the iPod and processed the information. Hunt had allegedly sent sexual texts, photos and videos of herself to the younger girl. Hunt could have faced hundreds more counts related to the exchanges.
“We have added one charge and that’s all we’re going to do at the time,” said Assistant State Attorney Chris Taylor, who is handling the case. “We plan to go to trial.”
Hunt’s defense attorney, Julia Graves, would not comment on the case and did not argue the motion by the prosecutor asking the judge to revoke Hunt’s bail.
The night before the hearing on August 20, Hunt called her bail bondsman Ronald Barnett, of Barnett’s Bail Bonds, and asked him to rescind her bond and return her to jail, Barnett said. He obliged and Hunt was booked at 9 p.m.
Barnett said he believes Hunt and her parents made the decision after it became clear she had violated the judge’s order and could face additional charges. Barnett said he believes she would have appeared at all court hearings and had no plans to rescind her bond himself.
The problems for Hunt and her family may not end there. During their investigation of Hunt for contacting the younger girl, it came to light that Hunt’s mother Kelley Hunt Smith, 37, may have involved herself in the illegal communications.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Raulen said detectives and prosecutors are deciding whether to open a formal investigation and possibly charge Smith with tampering with a witness in a case.
“Some things have come out during this investigation that may implicate her in a crime,” Raulen said. “We will decide together whether that warrants charges.”
