(CBS) SEBASTIAN, Fla. – Kaitlyn Hunt, an 18-year-old high school student in Sebastian, Fla., is facing charges and has been expelled from school for having a same-sex relationship with a 15-year-old classmate, CBS Tampa Bay reports.
Hunt is charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery of a child 12 to 16 years of age after the other girl’s parents called authorities when Hunt, a senior at Sebastian River High School, turned 18, according to the station.
Kelly Hunt Smith, Kaitlyn’s mother, created a Facebook page to garner support for her daughter in an effort to get the charges dropped, the station says.
Smith posted on the “Free Kate” Facebook page that the girlfriend’s parents “conspired with police to entrap Katilyn” because they disapproved of the relationship.
“Kaitlyn’s girlfriend denies that Kaitlyn ever pressured her and is adamant that their relationship is entirely consensual, but her parents are out to destroy Kaitlyn’s life,” Smith wrote online.
NBC affiliate WPTVreports that Smith said,”You get with me, and say, ‘hey, as a mom, this is going on and I don’t like this, let’s talk about this.’ ” She continued, “I would have sat down with her, I would have sat down with our children, and I would have nipped it in the bud, and I would have respected her.”
The two girls were reportedly teammates on the school’s basketball team, but when the coach learned that they were dating, Hunt was kicked off the team, according to Smith. She was then kicked out of school altogether.
“After two separate judges ruled that Kaitlyn could finish her senior year with her peers, her girlfriend’s parents appealed to the Indian River County School Board, who expelled Kaitlyn [and] sent her to the alternative school,” Smith wrote.
WPTV reports Hunt has until Friday to accept a plea deal which would subject her to two years of house arrest followed by a year of probation.
If Hunt does not accept the plea deal and she is found guilty, she could reportedly permanently be named a sexual offender on her record.
“It’s a death sentence for her. Her life would be over at 18,” her mother told WPTV.
The “Free Kate” Facebook page has over 20,000 supporters.
