Gay teen sent to Florida jail without bond

Andrew Ford | Florida Today

Show Caption Hide Caption Kaitlyn Hunt's dad discusses support for his daughter Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, attends Space Coast Pride at Wickham Park in Melbourne, Fla. Via social media or with "Free Kate" T-shirts, thousands have supported the lesbian teen, who faces sex charges. (May 27, 2013)

Kaitlyn Hunt%2C then 18%2C was arrested in February%2C accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girlfriend

Hunt%27s father says girl%27s parents went to police because they blamed his daughter for their daughter%27s homosexuality

Florida law says any person who engages in sexual activity with a minor ages 12 to 16 has committed a crime

VERO BEACH, Fla. — A teen accused of having sex with her underage girlfriend will remain in jail until at least an arraignment next month.

During a hearing Tuesday, a judge ordered Kaitlyn Hunt held without bond after prosecutors withdrew a plea deal that would have kept the 19-year-old out of prison, saying Hunt had violated pretrial conditions by contacting a girl identified as the victim in the case.

Authorities say Hunt had sex with her then-14-year-old girlfriend last year. Hunt argues that the sex was consensual.



The alleged contact came through an iPod that Hunt gave the victim in March after Hunt's arrest. A deputy testified in court that Hunt had sent the victim thousands of text messages as well as nude photos and video.

Hunt was booked Monday night into Indian River County Jail, charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child. She's scheduled for an arraignment next month to answer to a third charge of transmitting material harmful to a minor by electronic device.

In court Tuesday, Hunt wore an orange jumpsuit, and pink toenails poked out of her plastic jail clogs. She dabbed her eyes with a tissue, her wrists in handcuffs shackled to a belt around her waist.

Hunt, a cheerleader, was expelled from Sebastian River High School earlier this year after dating and having sex with a member of her basketball team. Hunt also played on the basketball team and shared the same circle of friends, said Hunt's mother, Kelley Hunt Smith.

The two had a consenting relationship that began soon after Hunt turned 18, and Hunt Smith earlier said she assumed the younger girl's parents knew that.

But Hunt was kicked off the basketball team near the end of last year because the coach said players were not allowed to date each other. Hunt was arrested in February, and the criminal charges she faces could land her in prison for as long as 15 years and require her to register as a sex offender. Hunt hopes to go to college to become a nurse.

Hunt and her girlfriend started dating in November, according to an affidavit for Hunt's initial arrest. The victim told police they began a sexual relationship before Christmas and performed sexual acts on each other multiple times at the school and at Hunt's home in Sebastian, Fla., as recently as early January.

Indian River County detectives interviewed the victim and Hunt and conducted a recorded phone call between the two as part of the investigation to develop grounds for an arrest. In the call, Hunt told the girl she loved her.



Hunt's parents, including her father who lives in Palm Bay, Fla., launched a social media campaign to get prosecutors to drop the charges.

"Kaitlyn was a highly respected student at Florida's Sebastian River High School with good grades and participation in cheerleading, basketball and chorus," Steven Hunt wrote in a petition on Change.org. "She was even voted 'most school spirit.' Now she's been expelled from school and is facing serious felonies — all because she is in love."

The petition now has more than 300,000 supporters but also has spurred more than a half dozen others to start petitions requesting that the Florida State Attorney prosecute Kaitlyn Hunt to the fullest extent of the law.

Florida law says any person who engages in sexual activity with a minor ages of 12 to 16 commits the crime of lewd and lascivious battery and anyone younger than 16 cannot consent legally to sexual activity.

"If this was an 18-year-old male and that was a 14-year-old girl, it would have been prosecuted the same way," Sheriff Deryl Loar of Indian River County said in May.

Contributing: Stacey Barchenger, Florida Today