Sentencing Set For Grandma Accused In Internet Sex CasePOSTED: 7:43 am MDT October 1, 2007
UPDATED: 4:12 pm MDT October 1, 2007

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- A grandmother from Clifton, Colo., who recorded children performing sexual acts on her before transmitting the images over the Internet was expected to learn her sentence Monday.

The 50-year-old woman pleaded guilty earlier this year to felony counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, and sexual exploitation of a child.

Slaughenhaupt’s arrest came after the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement contacted the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department concerning an Internet child pornography case in Toronto, Canada, part of a child porn crackdown called Project Camelot.

An ICE agent told sheriff’s investigators that hundreds of child pornography images had been found on a man’s computer and agents were trying to identify the victims, according to the arrest affidavit

Investigators said pictures distributed by a suspect in Canada were sent by someone with the screen name "shortstockdeb57." That person was later identified as Slaughenhaupt, according to her arrest affidavit.

Slaughenhaupt had the two girls, one of whom is disabled, touch her breasts and other private areas. A chat text revealed a Canadian man and Slaughenhaupt engaged in several sexually explicit conversations about the sex acts, according to court records. Slaughenhaupt admitted in an interview with investigators that she had molested the girls, police said.

When social services took her five grandchildren into protective custody, they said the home they were living in was littered with feces and moldy food. The children lived there with their mother and grandparents.

The children were returned to the home in March.

District Judge Richard Gurley delayed a hearing scheduled for last week to allow both sides time to review options for sentencing.

Slaughenhaupt could be sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison.

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No prison for Clifton grandma in Internet child sex case
By Rocky Mountain News
October 2, 2007

A Mesa County grandmother yesterday was sentenced to 20 years to life on probation for videotaping two children performing sex acts on her and sending the images to a man in Canada.

Debra Slaughenhaupt, 50, of Clifton, nodded her head but otherwise showed little emotion and declined to speak as District Judge Richard Gurley rejected a recommendation from probation officers that she be sentenced to four years to life in prison, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported today.

The judge sentenced her to 15 months in the Mesa County Jail as a condition of probation.

Judge Gurley said Slaughenhaupt had previously written a letter to the court.

She was arrested in March after a federal investigation found hundreds of child pornography images on a man's computer in Toronto and linked some of the images to Slaughenhaupt.

Deputies said the inside of her home was covered with mold and feces, an arrest affidavit said.

Investigators reviewed Internet chats over an eight-month period last year during which the Toronto man, 26-year-old Matthew Hughes, asked Slaughenhaupt to have the children, ages 9 and 3, perform sexual acts on her and send him the images, court records say.

Slaughenhaupt admitted in an interview with investigators that she had molested the girls, police said.

Slaughenhaupt pleaded guilty in June to felony sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and sexual exploitation of a child and misdemeanor child abuse.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Tammy Eret and Public Defender John Burkey agreed Slaughenhaupt was manipulated by Hughes into believing he loved her. Burkey said Hughes promised to visit Slaughenhaupt and send her money to travel to Canada.

"I don't see her as a pedophile," Eret said. "I see her as somebody who took advantage of the situation, and we may not see her back here (in court)."

The Daily Sentinel's Mike Wiggins contributed to this report.

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The father isn't around.