Lesbian Teen Kaitlyn Hunt Returns to Jail; Hearing Today

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Accused Florida sex offender Kaitlyn Hunt returned to jail Monday night prior to a hearing today in which prosecutors will argue that her bond should be revoked and that the 19-year-old former cheerleader should be kept in custody until her trial on felony charges of having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

Hunt, whose case has attracted nationwide media attention, voluntarily turned herself in at the Indian River County Jail about 9 p.m. Monday night. She had been out on $5,000 bond since her February arrest, but last week prosecutors filed a stunning document alleging that Hunt had repeatedly violated the court-ordered terms of her pretrial release by contacting the victim in the case, who is now 15.

Ron Barnett of Barnett Bail Bonds in Vero Beach told the Palm Beach Post that it was Hunt’s decision to return to jail pending today’s 1 p.m. hearing before Circuit Court Judge Robert Pegg.

Kaitlyn Hunt’s mug shot, after she turned herself in Monday night.

Gay-rights activists and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) rallied to support Hunt in May, when her family launched an online “Free Kate” movement urging prosecutors to drop felony charges of “lewd and lascivious battery” against Hunt. Prosecutors in state attorney Bruce Colton‘s office had offered a plea bargain that would have let Hunt stay out of prison, but Hunt rejected that offer May 24. Her supporters said the charges should be reduced to a misdemeanor, and blamed anti-gay prejudice for the felony prosecution.

The legal age of consent in Florida is 16. Hunt was an 18-year-old senior Sebastian River High School and her girlfriend, a freshman teammate on the basketball team, was only 14 when their sexual affair began in December 2012, according to an affidavit filed when Hunt was arrested Feb. 15. The first sexual encounter occurred in a restroom toilet stall at the school, according to the affidavit, and the younger girl subsequently ran away from home the night of Jan. 4 to spend the night having sex with Hunt.

Hunt’s case was featured in national media, including NBC’s Today show, portraying her as a victim of homophobia. Hunt’s mother, Kelley Hunt Smith, blamed the younger girl’s parents: “They are trying to send an innocent young girl to prison because they are full of hate and bigotry.”

Kaitlyn Hunt and her parents appeared on NBC’s ‘Today’ show May 23.

Hunt had remained free on bond pending trial and in July rejected a second plea deal offered by prosecutors, but on Thursday, prosecutors said Hunt had violated the no-contact order that had been a condition of her pre-trial release. since her February arrest, Hunt had sent the younger girl more than 20,000 text messages, according to prosecutors, and had also sent the victim “lewd and lascivious” photographs and an “explicit” masturbation video. Hunt had also secretly met with the younger girl for “intimate contact,” prosecutors said, and both Hunt and her mother had encouraged the victim to conceal the continuing contact between them.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL DOCUMENT

The prosecutor said Hunt’s bond violations were “severely threatening the integrity of the judicial process.” On Monday, prosecutors announced that they had withdrawn their latest plea-bargain offer, and today’s 1 p.m. ET hearing in Vero Beach will determine whether Hunt remains in jail until her trial. A September trial had been scheduled, but was indefinitely postponed because Judge Pegg had a murder trial that conflicted with the Hunt trial date.

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