A pregnant Alabama woman is facing multiple charges, including child rape and child pornography, after admitting in her Medicaid application that her unborn child’s father is only 14 years old.
According to AL.com, Mekenzie Leigh Guffey, 19, of Hollywood, Alabama, has been open about her relationship with the underage teen, perhaps not realizing how far it ran afoul of the law.
“She was proud of him being the father until she found out we were going to become involved,” Jackson County Police Chief Jason Hepler told AL.com. “She told us she didn’t count but it was more than a few times that they were together.”
The woman reportedly told police her relationship with the boy began in December after they met through a mutual acquaintance at a McDonald’s.
Guffey was taken into custody on Friday, and has reportedly been charged with second-degree rape, second-degree sexual abuse, traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act, enticing a child for immoral purposes, possession of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography.
Police told AL.com that the pornography charges are connected to explicit photos and videos found on Guffey’s phone, including some that she sent to the alleged victim.
After Guffey submitted a Medicaid application this month listing the child’s father as a minor, the Department of Human Resources teamed up with Jackson County Police to investigate. Guffey faces up to 20 years in prison, and will have to register as a sex offender if she is convicted of the rape charge.
The 19-year-old was released on $25,300 bail on Monday.
Photo: Jackson County Police