COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – An Athens woman was ordered to serve between 25 to 50 years behind bars in the Michigan Department of Corrections Monday in Branch County Circuit Court after entering guilty pleas to three charges including two involving sex crimes with children.
20-year-old Jayme Lynn LaPoint got concurrent sentences with credit for 405 days already served. She must also register as a sex offender and be on an electronic monitor for life when she gets out of prison.
She entered a guilty plea to first degree criminal sexual conduct in a case filed in July 2018 by the Branch County Prosecutors office involving a two-year-old girl she was babysitting. Charges of child abusive commercial activity, using computers to commit a crime and distribution and promotion of child abusive commercial activity were dismissed by prosecutors in exchange for the guilty plea.
LaPoint also entered guilty pleas to charges of conspiracy to commit the crimes of kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. The Michigan Attorney General’s Office filed the charges against her and three co-defendants in an alleged plot to kidnap, rape and kill a randomly selected child in a case that has shocked and outraged many in the community.
A count of conspiracy to commit murder filed against LaPoint was dismissed in exchange for her pleas.
