A 38-year-old mother-of-two has been jailed for 15 years for having se* with two teenage boys last summer, who she enticed with naked pictures of herself sent via Snapchat.
Brooke Lajines, of Lima Township, Michigan, has been sentenced to four years, nine months to 15 years in prison for crimes committed against the teenagers, who were aged 14 and 15 at the time.
Lajines pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal se*ual conduct for oral se* against the 15-year-old boy and two counts of third-degree criminal se*ual conduct for intercourse with the 14-year-old during her trial in June, according to the local Ann Arbor News. She also pleaded guilty to one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes and another for furnishing obscenity to children, relating to the naked images Lajines sent of herself to the boys.
The mother of the 14-year-old victim described the lengths Lajines went to in order to meet with her son in an impact statement, and said the teenage boy has suffered lasting damage from the abuse.
Her impact statement, which was read by a victim advocate in court, said: “You made a conscious effort on several occasions to make arrangements to meet my son, sneak out of your house, start your car, leave your husband and children at home and drive to my son’s father’s house, back into the driveway between midnight and 4am, wait for my son to run in the driveway, commit a crime and leave.
“Did you ever worry about the harm you were doing my son?” she asked, the New York Post reported.
The mother added that her son is in counselling and gets picked on at school by his classmates who think “it’s cool” that he had se* with an adult woman.
“This has been the biggest regret of my life,” Lajiness told the court at her sentencing. “My family means everything to me and I have caused them great pain through these regretful choices I have made. My number one priority has always been my two children and I’ve provided for them in a way nobody else can. I feel hopeless in knowing the possibility I will no longer be able to do so.
“I fear the toll this will take on my family in my absence. These last few months have been excruciating to watch the emotional affects this had on everyone around me,” she added.
Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney John Vella raised the issue in court of letters sent to the judge on behalf of Lajiness, which he believed attempted to shift the blame away from the perpetrator.
Mr Vella claimed the letters blamed a teenage boy, Lajiness’ own experience of domestic abuse, while Lajiness’ husband’s letter claimed her insomnia contributed to her actions,
“Nobody is putting the blame on where it deserves, which it was this defendant’s actions that brought her here. It’s this defendant that chose to have se* with minors,” he said.
Judge David Swartz followed the lower end of the sentencing guidelines, citing Lajiness’ psychological issues and her lack of criminal record.