INDIAN RIVER COUNTY – “It’s not every day a case in Indian River County generates national attention,” Sheriff Deryl Loar said Monday during a press conference regarding his department’s arrest of an 18-year-old Sebastian River High School student who is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old schoolmate.
While the Sheriff held a press conference inside the administration building, a few dozen people rallied outside in support of the 18-year-old, many holding signs saying “Stop the Hate – Free Kate.”
Sheriff Loar said if not for the suspect’s family taking to social media over the weekend, no attention would have been paid to the case. The suspect and student, identified as Kaitlyn Hunt, was arrested in mid-February. She has since been released from the county jail on $5,000 bond.
The Sheriff’s Office got involved when the 14-year-old female student and her parents came into the department and filed a criminal complaint. The case worked its way through the system and led to two controlled calls between the student and the suspect during which Hunt admitted to having a sexual relationship with the minor.
Despite the victim’s apparent consent to having relations with Hunt, the law was broken, according to both the Sheriff’s Office and State Attorney’s Office.
“Consent does not matter” when the minor is 14 years old, Sheriff Loar said.
State Attorney Bruce Colton agreed.
“The law is very clear,” he said, explaining that when the suspect is 18 and the victim is under 16, consent and knowledge of age are no defense.
Sheriff Loar said if the relationship had between a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old, the case would be working its way through the juvenile court system instead.
The age of consent is 16 in Florida, Sheriff Loar said.
Hunt has been charged with two felony counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child between the ages of 12 and 16. A plea deal offered by the State Attorney’s Office would have Hunt plead to child abuse, a lesser charge. A judge would determine whether or not to adjudicate guilt.
If Hunt were to decline the plea deal and go to court, she’d face the lewd and lascivious charges and run the risk of being convicted as a sexual offender, according to State Attorney Colton.
Hunt has until May 24 to decide, he said.
While some have tried to make the arrest an issue of gay rights, both Sheriff Loar and State Attorney Colton deny that has played a role in the investigation and prosecution of the case.
“It has nothing to do with that,” Colton said.
Sheriff Loar, when asked if the same-sex nature of the relationship has affected the case, said “absolutely not.” He added that there have been other similar cases his department has handled – and handled in the same way – without the increased media attention.
“This is a sign of the times,” he said of the involvement of social media.
