The court recommended Darling be held at a facility with a sex offender treatment program and for her to receive mental health treatment.
In October Darling pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography.
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Credit: Montgomery County Jail
Darling and her boyfriend, John Brickhouse, allegedly tricked a girl into sending them explicit images, claiming it was to help pay for a life-saving surgery.
The couple is originally from Junction City, but Brickhouse was living at a halfway house in Warren County in June 2022 when he started communicating with a 13-year-old girl on the social media app Snapchat, according to court records.
He allegedly asked her to send him explicit material.
Darling also sent Brickhouse child pornography over social media, according to court documents.
Brickhouse was arrested for violating his parole and in Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Corrections custody as he continued to communicate with the teen.
While in custody, he and Darling reportedly came up with a plan to convince the girl into creating more child pornography.
The couple convinced the girl Brickhouse’s mother was seriously ill with weeks left to live and in need of a life-saving surgery, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
They reportedly told her she needed to create child pornography to help pay for the surgery.
Brickhouse created Michael Jones, a fictional persona, for the girl to send explicit images to and Darling posed as his mother and aunt, according to court records.
The couple would share the explicit photos and images to others, including registered sex offenders, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Brickhouse also reportedly coerced a 10-year-old into creating child sex abuse material and sending it to him on Snapchat while he was at the Warren County halfway house.
He pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to produce child pornography and production of child pornography and two counts of coercion and enticement in September. He is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.
Brickhouse is a registered sex offender with previous convictions for sexually assaulting children, including a victim as young as 3, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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