Honk News – A 37-year-old woman was sentenced to a year in jail last week after pleading guilty, with prosecutors stating that she provided a child predator with the “absolute, perfect opportunity” to exploit a child.
Kayla McClaughlin was present in Lubbock County Court at Law #2, where she entered a guilty plea for a charge of failing to report child abuse, a class A misdemeanor that could result in a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
In exchange for her plea, the prosecution has agreed to forgo a possible felony charge against her.
McLaughlin, who has been released on bond since 2019, submitted her plea just two weeks before her scheduled trial for the charge. Prosecutors challenged her plea to delay her surrender to jail until after Christmas, arguing that she had ample opportunity to arrange her affairs prior to the start of her sentence.
McLaughlin’s charges arise from a police inquiry in Lubbock regarding claims made by a 10-year-old girl who reported to her doctor that Cody Sullivan, 37, was sexually abusing her.
Sullivan, the boyfriend of McLaughlin, received a 30-year prison sentence in April 2023 after pleading guilty to charges of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and indecency with a child through sexual contact.
He agreed to the plea deal while jurors were considering their verdict in the trial, where they listened to the testimony of the girl who revealed that Sullivan started abusing her in 2013, when she was just 4 years old.
She reported being sexually abused at least twice a week over a span of six years.
The troubling situation came to light in 2019, when a physician at Covenant Medical Center clinic observed the girl’s behavior and recognized indicators of sexual abuse.
The physician took the girl away from McLaughlin, claiming it was for a blood test. In a private moment, the doctor inquired if the girl was experiencing any form of sexual abuse, to which she revealed that Sullivan had been the perpetrator.
A physician, bound by legal duty to report allegations of sexual abuse, contacted the Lubbock police, leading to an investigation that culminated in a multi-count indictment of Sullivan.
During the investigation, detectives discovered that the girl had confided in McLaughlin about the abuse several months earlier, yet she chose not to report it.
She informed the jurors that the girl had fabricated claims of sexual abuse by a different family member.
The young woman confessed to the jurors that she fabricated claims of mistreatment by another family member, driven by her desire to leave her home and flee from Sullivan’s abuse, especially after McLaughlin dismissed her allegations.
During Sullivan’s trial, Prosecutor Cassie Graham emphasized to jurors that the girl’s account of the pain caused by his abuse demonstrated her honesty.
“She does not know that they would hurt unless it happened to her,” she told jurors.
Since 2013, it has been mandatory for all adults in Texas to inform authorities about any reports of abuse. Neglecting to disclose those cries for help is categorized as a class A misdemeanor, but it may escalate to a state jail felony if prosecutors can demonstrate that the individual aimed to hide the abuse.