Kaitlyn Hunt, the 19-year-old lesbian who faces charges of lewd and lascivious battery for having sex with a minor, is back in jail after authorities discovered that she ignored a court order to steer clear of her underage girlfriend.
Hunt turned herself in to the Indian River County Jail in Vero Beach, Fla., on Monday night.
The re-arrest follows revelations about Hunt’s continuing affair with her 14-year-old girlfriend. Both were students at Sebastian River High School last year.
Hunt was 18 years old when the relationship began. The age of consent in Florida is 16, meaning that sex between the two girls is illegal.
The family of the younger girl pressed authorities to take action, and Hunt was charged with a felony. If convicted, she could face up to 15 years in prison.
The court ordered Hunt to cease all contact with the younger girl in March. But last week, it became clear that the order was ignored. Hunt smuggled her girlfriend an iPod, and the two exchanged thousands of texts and Facebook messages. Some of them were sexual in nature, and the two girls apparently sent nude pictures and masturbated while communicating. They even met up and engaged in sex, according to reports.
Authorities believe Hunt’s mother may have known about the ongoing affair and attempted to cover it up. Hunt’s parents have outspokenly supported their daughter, and allege that she is being treated unfairly because of anti-gay bias.
Authorities recently offered Hunt a plea deal that would require her to do community service and maintain a curfew for the next two years. In exchange, she would receive neither jail time nor sex offender status. But that deal is no longer on the table, since Hunt violated the terms of her bail and continued to communicate with her girlfriend.
At a pretrial hearing earlier Tuesday, Circuit Court Judge Robert Pegg permanently revoked Hunt’s bail, ordering her to remain in jail until the trial.
In light of the new evidence, prosecutors have levied an additional charge against Hunt: using an electronic device to distribute harmful material to a minor.
The trial has not yet been scheduled.
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