A former candidate for Umatilla mayor, Bays pleaded guilty to charges of production of child pornography and conspiring with another to travel for the purpose of sex with a minor. (Seminole County Jail, Seminole County Jail / May 17, 2009)
For federal prosecutors, Rhonda Bays' case is particularly appalling.
For defense attorney Kyle Fletcher, Bays is a sick woman used by her boyfriend for his own "evil exploits."
Bays let her boyfriend molest her 4-year-old relative, videotaped the incident at an Orlando hotel and later offered up a 2-year-old for potential abuse. Bays, who once ran for mayor of Umatilla, has pleaded guilty in federal court and faces up to 30 years in prison.
Her boyfriend, Tanner Stickney, has a plea deal in place with federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., that calls for him to serve 15 years in federal prison.
That potential sentencing disparity is just one of the issues Fletcher is likely to take up this afternoon in federal court in Orlando.
In their legal filings, prosecutors have revealed more startling details about the case, including that Bays and Stickney talked about adopting children to be sex slaves.
Bays, a 39-year-old mother from Eustis, and Stickney, 29, were arrested in May after Stickney traveled from his home in Washington, D.C., to Orlando, where he planned to have another sexual encounter arranged by Bays.
Days prior to their arrests, court documents said, Bays told Stickney the boy whom he abused earlier "may not be available," but she offered up a replacement: a 2-year-old relative.
After Stickney was arrested at Orlando International Airport in May, he "set up" Frank Lombard, a high-ranking administrator at Duke University official, Fletcher said.
Lombard, associate director of the Center for Health Policy at Duke, was arrested after he offered up his 5-year-old adopted son for sex in an undercover operation, federal court documents said. Duke fired Lombard in June.
Stickney's plea agreement makes note of the assistance and information he provided related to "certain criminal investigations."
As part of his arguments why Bays should be spared from spending three decades behind bars, Fletcher also noted she has no criminal history and is does not endanger to the community.
Fletcher wrote that Bays is a "very sick person." He said Stickney "used Ms. Bays for his evil exploits."
Fletcher noted that a psychiatrist's report indicates Bays "would be susceptible to a super predator like Mr. Stickney."
But prosecutors have argued the "particularly heinous nature" of Bays case warrants a weighty sentence.
Investigators who read Internet "chats" between Bays and Stickney found that Bays once said if she were caught, "I am pretty much declared incompetent so even if I get caught, I can play it off and not get into trouble," court documents said.
The chats also revealed Bays told Stickney they could adopt children "nobody wants," and use them as "sex slaves."
Bays suggested Stickney abuse a child about 6 years old because kids that age "can't give too many details on looks like an older one can."
Bays pleaded guilty to charges of production of child pornography and conspiring with another to travel for the purpose of sex with a minor.
At one point, Bays and Stickney also discussed plans to kidnap a child to molest. Bays asked Stickney, court documents said, "how young is too young?'"
"Bays has demonstrated that she is a danger to children," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in its filing earlier this week. "She has shown that she is willing to go to any length to appease the whim of a child molester, even ruining the lives of innocent children in her own family."
Amy L. Edwards can be reached at aledwards@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5735.
Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel
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