Mom gets 10 years in prison for 'lewd' breastfeeding videos with son: 'I'm not a monster'
A piano teacher who works with special-needs children has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting videos of herself breastfeeding her son in a sexual manner.
Leigh Felten, 34, a single mother in Tallahassee, Fla., was convicted on one charge of lewd lascivious performance, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Assistant State Attorney Lorena Vollrath-Bueno also filed 37 additional charges, requiring the mom to stand trial while serving her sentence. The boy is now between the ages of 18 and 24 months.
Felton was arrested on Oct. 6, after local police received a tip from officers in Wisconsin. A woman had filed a report with the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office in Prairie du Chien, Wis., alleging that her husband had purchased seven YouTube videos of Felton breastfeeding a young boy “as both of them were nude,” according to a report from People. The woman claimed her husband went to Florida “to meet with the suspect, where he engaged in sexual intercourse with her.”
People also obtained a probable cause affidavit that stated the video shows “the female rubbing oil on herself and the child. At one point, the female’s vagina and the child’s penis appear to be in contact with one another.” Another video, according to the affidavit, shows Felten “as she rubs her breasts back and forth across the child’s face.”
In October, Felton told a jury that she regretted making the videos, some of which were titled “Mommy’s a Whore” and “Good Little Boy.”
“In fact, I’m ashamed of them,” she said, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Felton said the father of her child ended their relationship and that she was lonely and depressed, and that she began making breastfeeding tutorials with her son. Then, after receiving positive attention from male viewers, her content became sexualized.
“Finally, I was getting attention and felt like I had some worth,” said Felton. “I’m not a monster.”
Vollrath-Bueno tells Yahoo Lifestyle that in her 15-year career, cases like Felton’s are “the most terrible thing you can see.” She filed the additional charges after speaking with two members of the jury who misinterpreted some legal language and therefore felt obligated to acquit Felton on most of the charges.
The new charges will be based on Felton’s entire collection of 45 videos, as the jury saw just 10, a decision that was made to avoid “overwhelming” them, Vollrath-Bueno tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
Felton claimed in her October testimony that she was “overcharged” for her videos, but Vollrath-Bueno tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “Her original sentence was not sufficient.”
The boy now lives with his biological father, who has full custody, and Felton will go on trial for the new charges later in 2019.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Repairman caught on tape rummaging through little girls’ underwear
Middle school teacher investigated for using N-word against student
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