The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Ky. mom found guilty in ‘trampling’ case
Over the roughly six years that Michelle Bray’s boyfriend lived at her Edgewood home, she allowed two of her children to be subjected to repeated physical and sexual abuse, prosecutors said.
On Tuesday, a Kenton County jury found Bray guilty of nine counts including complicity to criminal abuse, complicity to promoting a sexual performance by a minor, complicity to sexual abuse and human trafficking.
The investigation into 43-year-old Bray began early last year after a relative reported to police that Bray’s thenboyfriend, Christopher Whittaker, stored images and videos of child sexual abuse involving Bray’s underage daughter on his computer, prosecutors said in court filings.
At the time, Bray and Whittaker were living together at her house with Bray’s children, according to court filings.
Prosecutors say Whittaker, at times with Bray’s involvement, used the woman’s daughter and then 7-year-old son to perform actions related to a fetish called “trampling,” which involves walking, stepping and stomping on people or objects for sexual gratification.
It was Bray who taught this behavior to her daughter, who was as young as 9 years old at the time of some of the incidents, Assistant Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Emily Arnzen said in court on Tuesday.
Several videos show Bray’s daughter stepping on a cat, at Whittaker’s direction, while the man holds the animal down, prosecutors said in court filings.
Investigators also uncovered a video depicting Bray, wearing a wedge-style heel, stepping onto her disabled son’s torso, according to court filings.
“It’s tragic all around,” said Bray’s lawyer, Joseph Holbrook.
Holbrook argued videos depicting Bray and her daughter trampling on Whittaker don’t rise to the level of sexual abuse because the girl and her mother were clothed, albeit revealingly, and allegations that Bray was grooming her daughter for Whittaker are unsubstantiated.
“No one knew what was happening,” Holbrook said.
Bray’s relationship with Whittaker began in early 2016 after he contacted her via social media, the lawyer said. It didn’t take long for Whittaker to move into Bray’s basement and start befriending everyone in the house.
Holbrook argued that Whittaker took advantage of Bray being a working, single mother to gain access to her daughter.
However, prosecutors said it was Bray who provided that access and that it all started with Bray teaching those things to her young daughter.
“Her relationship to Christopher Whittaker was more important to her than her own daughter,” Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders said.
The jury recommended Bray serve a 30-year prison sentence. Prosecutors asked for 70 years, the maximum under state law.
Whittaker, 40, pleaded guilty in March to 84 felony counts related to the physical and sexual abuse of Bray’s children, court records show.
Prosecutors did not offer him a lighter prison term and he was given 10 life sentences.
He’s also facing charges in Grant County in connection with similar incidents that happened with the child of an ex-girlfriend.
Bray is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 5 for final sentencing before Circuit Judge Patricia Summe.