Two Garvin County women are facing felony charges after allegedly conspiring to frame a man for possession of child pornography.
Lacey Dawn Hucks and Angel Ruth Moore were arrested last week after an investigation by the Garvin County Sheriff's Office revealed that they had taken more than 800 screenshots of child pornography and attempted to implicate Hucks' estranged husband ahead of an upcoming custody case.
"They put this plot together to try to get him out of the picture so they could get her kids back," Sheriff Jim Mullett said.
According to a probable cause affidavit in the case, Moore made a police report on April 18 stating that she had observed Hucks' husband viewing child pornography at his home and had taken possession of a cell phone which she turned over to police.
Initial investigation confirmed the phone did belong to Mr. Hucks, and a search warrant revealed 857 images of child pornography on the device.
At that point, Mr. Hucks was arrested for possession of child pornography.
"He was very cooperative. He produced his new phone and then he gave us a good explanation of where the phone in question went. And the timeline fit what he was saying," Mullett said. "As we started researching a little more, the dots, so to speak, just didn't fit. Our investigation led us to believe that he was innocent."
Hucks was released the next day and no charges were filed.
At that point the investigation turned to Moore and Lacey Hucks. In her initial report to police, Moore denied knowing Lacey, according to court records. A later search warrant of Lacey Hucks' phone revealed the two were friends and had communicated about making the police report.
Moore "finally admitted she was never at the house and that the phone was actually the son's phone and that they took it to come up with this plan," Mullett said. "It was a plot that just didn't work out in their favor. It backfired on them."
Hucks and Moore are both charged with three felony counts each including aggravated possession of child pornography, conspiracy to commit a felony, and violation of the computer crimes act.
Hucks remains in jail with a bond set at $250,000. Moore posted a $50,000 bond.
