Pals of boy bombarded with nudes by teacher Rikki Lynn Laughlin ‘praised him for how lucky he was’, classmate reveals

A CLASSMATE of a teen who was bombarded with nudes by a married teacher has shared the revolting reactions of some of their peers.

Teacher Rikki Lynn Laughlin was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

The 26-year-old was a special needs teacher at St James High School in Missouri at the time of the crimes in 2023.

She is said to have sent the 16-year-old boy barrages of explicit content via Snapchat, including naked pics and a video of herself using a sex toy.

The teacher also begged the teen to come and have sex with her while her husband was away.

But a Reddit user claiming to be one of the victim’s classmates has revealed the appalling reaction of some fellow students upon his return.

“I go to St James and honestly this shook me to my core, knowing there was a teacher involving themselves with students I know scared me,” they wrote.

“What if this happened to me or my friends?”

They added: “What really got to me was how people reacted.

“When the student came back to school everyone started congratulating him, praising him and people on Snapchat are posting about how pretty she is and how lucky he was, that is absolutely disgusting.”

An investigation was launched into the case after a Phelps County detective tipped authorities off about a rumoured inappropriate relationship at the school.

The student told cops he had been approached online by Laughlin, who sent him explicit images of herself before asking for his pics in return.

Laughlin reportedly asked him to delete some of the images out of fear of being caught.

But while the teen deleted some of the pictures, he showed others to the cops.

He also told officers that “things progressed fast” after he was sent the Snapchat messages – and that the teacher had even kissed him in a classroom.

When she allegedly invited him to have sex, he “made excuses” as he “he did not feel comfortable” – according to a probable cause statement by the Maries County Sheriff’s Office.

Laughlin is reported to have told cops that the student made contact first, but didn’t deny the encounter had occurred.

She claimed: “I was not aware he was a minor until yesterday.”

The teacher was charged in October 2024 with seven alleged sex crimes – including statutory rape.

She pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to five years of probation.

Laughlin was fired from her teaching job after she was charged.

Following her arrest, the school district Superintendent Tim Webster said: “The District takes these matters seriously and reported allegations to appropriate outside agencies, including law enforcement.

“We have been actively cooperating with these agencies since the initial report.”