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YOUNGSTOWN -- A Youngstown woman faces a likely prison stint after pleading guilty Monday to sex offenses involving a 3-year-old child.
A news release from the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office states that Tekia Huggins, 34, pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to charges including gross sexual imposition, a third-degree felony; pandering sexually oriented matter, a second-degree felony; and attempted use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, a fourth-degree felony. Her plea averted a trial scheduled to begin this week in a case where her alleged co-defendant is already serving a life sentence for separate child sex offenses in Trumbull County.
Huggins originally was indicted in June on those counts, along with rape, a first-degree felony carrying a life sentence, as well as attempted gross sexual imposition.
Huggins is scheduled for sentencing in November, when prosecutors likely will recommend a prison sentence. She also will be classified as a Tier II sex offender, requiring her to register her address with the county sheriff’s office every six months for 25 years.
Huggins was indicted along with Jeremiah Rodriguez who is expected to appear on similar charges in Mahoning County later this year.
Rodriguez, 32, already is serving life in prison after pleading guilty in May in a separate Trumbull County case, to three counts of child rape, four counts of gross sexual imposition, illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. He will be eligible for parole after 15 to 17.5 years, and was classified a Tier III sex offender.
Rodriguez’s Trumbull County case involved two children who prosecutors said were 4 and 5 years old at the time of the offenses. Investigators identified the children after a cyber tip led them to pornography on Rodriguez’s electronic devices.
Trumbull County prosecutors said Rodriguez showed pornography to the children, created pornographic material involving them and sexually assaulted both children numerous times. Rodriguez previously served three years in prison after Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Maureen Sweeney sentenced him in 2019 for sexual battery. He was released under supervision in February 2022.
Prosecutors said the Trumbull County offenses occurred in June 2023, while Rodriguez was on parole.
Prosecutors in the Mahoning County case say the victim was 3 years old at the time of the offenses. Online records show Rodriguez’s Mahoning County charges right now include pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, a second-degree felony; and attempted gross sexual imposition. He is scheduled for a plea and sentencing before Judge Anthony D'Apolito on Oct. 21, though the details of that plea agreement are not yet public.
The case is still under investigation by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force. Prosecutor Lynn Maro credited Assistant Prosecutor Kyle Hilles with securing the conviction against Huggins.