Woman charged for having sex with teen

PALMER — A 45-year-old woman is being charged with sexually abusing a teenaged boy.

According to an affidavit Alaska State Trooper Investigator Shannon Fore filed in the case against Rischele Huntington, the situation first came to light Feb. 26 when the boy, 17 at the time, reported to a bishop at his church that he’d been having a sexual relationship with Huntington since May 2012.

Fore’s affidavit quotes heavily from texts between the boy and the woman.

“I don’t know what is going to happen. I will know more today. We both knew though that I could go to jail,” Huntington texted him Feb. 24 after it was clear to her that police were investigating, following that up with a text saying, “that’s why I wanted to wait till you were 18.”

Fore writes that on Feb. 26 he tried to interview the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bishop the boy first talked to.

“He referred me to a LDS church attorney in Salt Lake City,” Fore wrote.

The attorney, in turn, told Fore that the bishop had informed Huntington of the allegations against her but she was already aware.

Fore wrote that he tried to interview Huntington on Feb. 24, but she declined. He charged her with eight counts of sexual abuse of a minor, one for each month since the sexual encounters began, and an additional count for the one instance of intercourse the boy alleges.

Huntington’s criminal record in Alaska includes routine traffic tickets. The felonies she now faces carry a potential penalty of decades in prison. She could potentially face trial as early as May. Jail records Thursday afternoon showed she was being held at the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.