American teacher of Missouri charged with sending obscene and lascivious photographs to a teen boy

Prosecutors charged Rikki Lyn Laughlin, 25, with promoting obscenity in the first degree, furnishing pornographic material to a minor and attempted statutory rape

By Edward Era Barbacena 

A special education teacher in Missouri has been charged with bombarding a 16-year-old boy with explicit videos and inviting him to her home for a sex session when her husband was away.

Rikki Lyn Laughlin, 25, allegedly began preying on the student through Snapchat, sending him nude photos and video of her pleasuring herself with a dildo.

According to a statement of probable cause, the teen told police “things progressed very fast” and “they even kissed in the classroom” at St. James High School.

“[He] informed me that during his conversations with Laughlin, she stated she wanted to have sexual intercourse with him; going so far as to invite [him] to her house on 10/14/2023 because her husband was not home,” a detective for the Maries County Sheriff’s Office wrote.

The boy said that he made several excuses to get out of the proposed rendezvous but did send Laughlin photos of his genitals at her request, according to the statement.

“[He] did tell me that one of the conversations he and Laughlin had was Laughlin telling him she could get jail time for what she was doing,” the detective wrote.

School District Superintendent Tim Webster said Laughlin, who was teaching juniors at the high school, was placed on leave after her arrest.

“The District takes these matters seriously and reported allegations to appropriate outside agencies, including law enforcement,” he said in statement to KSDK. “We have been actively cooperating with these agencies since the initial report.

“Our top priority remains the safety and well-being of our students, and we do not tolerate any policy or law violations within our educational community.”