Kaitlyn Ashley Hunt, 18, was arrested Feb. 16 in Florida on two counts of lewd or lascivious battery on a child, and now her mother, Kelly Hunt Smith, is speaking out, according to ABC News.
Smith wrote recently on a support page for her daughter called "Free Kate," which currently has over 14,000 members, that Hunt began a "mutual consenting" relationship with a now 15-year old high school girl. According to Smith, the under-age girl's parents were upset by the situation due to their daughter being in a homosexual relationship.
"They were out to destroy my daughter, they feel like my daughter 'made' their daughter gay," Smith said. "They are bigoted, religious zeolites [sic] that see being gay as a sin and wrong, and they blame my daughter.
"She's scared to death, she can't sleep," she told ABC News on Sunday night. "I just put our story out there on Friday. I wanted people to know what was going on. Within thirty minutes, I had so many outpouring support. On Saturday evening, we crashed the change.org website. The president of change.org contacted us personally."
According to Kelly, the parents of the younger girl, who attends Sebastian River High School in Indian River County, Fla., pressured the school board to expel Kaitlyn, which they did.
"Those parents have forced the State Attorneys office to go thru [sic] with felony charges and are trying to ruin my daughters life. This is insane," Smith wrote on Facebook. "This should have never been a legal matter, it is a family matter. They are trying to send an innocent young girl to prison because they are full of hate and bigotry. These girls are teenagers in high school, who had one mutual consenting sexual experience. My daughter isn't a criminal, she isn't a predator."
According to Smith, Hunt was an active athlete and medical assistant in training to become a nurse, and made friends with the younger girl through mutual friends. The two allegedly began dating shortly after Hunt's 18th birthday, but Hunt was kicked off the baseball team after her coach discovered the relationship and informed the younger girl's parents.
The younger girl "denies that Kaitlyn ever pressured her and is adamant that their relationship is entirely consensual," according to Smith.
Currently, Hunt has until Friday to accept or reject a plea deal of two years of house arrest and one year of probation from the state's attorney, but Smith feels that her daughter is not a criminal and such a penalty would be "the death sentence for her." The family has also incurred $50,000 in legal fees, and has created an online account to assistant in raising the funds.
"She would have a lifetime sexual offender on her record," Smith said. "She would not be able to; we think we all know what that means. It's a death sentence for her, her life would be over at 18."
Kelly has also created an online petition to raise support for her daughter, which had more than 27,000 signatures by Sunday morning.
"There was no intent to hurt anybody or commit a crime. I know that's not an excuse for the letter of the law, but it's reality," Smith said.
Click here to see a photo of Kaitlyn Ashley Hunt that her mother posted to the Facebook support page.
