Lori Wickelhaus, a former star of MTV‘s 16 and Pregnant, has been released from prison after spending over 26 months behind bars for possessing Child Sex Abuse Materials (CSAM).
The Ashley can exclusively reveal that Lori— who starred on the show’s second season alongside Leah Messer, Kail Lowry and the rest of the original Teen Mom 2 girls back in 2010—was released from a Kentucky prison on Wednesday.
As The Ashley previously reported, Lori was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison in 2021, after pleading guilty to two counts of possession of CSAM. (The Ashley would like to note that, at the time that story was published in 2021, the term “child p0rnography” was still widely used. It is now referred to as Child Sex Abuse Materials or CSAM.)
Anyway, Lori’s release comes much earlier than expected. According to the Kentucky Department of Corrections website, she was due to serve at least until December 2027 in a medium-security prison. Lori became eligible for parole in October 2022, but was denied at her first hearing. At her parole hearing last month, however, she had her parole approved.
As part of her parole requirements, Lori will be on mandatory reentry supervision. According to the National Institute of Corrections’ website, “Kentucky requires that every inmate that is released from prison undergo post-release supervision to ensure that the inmate has the necessary monitoring and/or support in the community.”
Lori’s legal battle began in August 2020, when she was arrested for possession of Child Sex Abuse Materials. According to the police report from the arrest, the offending material was found on Lori’s iPhone and laptop, with the viewing dates listed as September 23, 2019 and December 18-19, 2019.
According to the report, the county’s police department received a Cybertip from the Kentucky State Police Internet Crimes Against Task Force that was originally submitted by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The tip came in after an unknown person uploaded photos that showed illicit child images to a Dropbox account. From there, a search began in March of Lori’s computers and phone, and she was indicted on August 13, 2020 and arrested.
Lori delivered quite the mugshot for that arrest, shown with her eye makeup streaming down her face after what had obviously been a period of heavy sobbing.
Back in May 2021, Lori changed her plea to guilty regarding the 20 counts of “Possessing/viewing matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor.” (She eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of that charge.)
She was due to be sentenced in June 2021 for her crimes, but never made it to the sentencing. Lori was booked into Kentucky’s Campbell County Detention Center and given an additional charge of being in Contempt of Court (Libel/Slander Resistance to [Court] Order.)
Fans of “16 and Pregnant” will most likely remember Lori’s episode, which was one of the most heartbreaking of the entire series. During the episode, Lori and her then-boyfriend Corey Haskett struggled with their decision to place their baby boy for adoption. Lori— who was adopted herself— eventually decided on an open adoption and placed her son, Aiden (who was born in December 2009) with his adoptive family at the end of the episode.
Lori went on to have two more children after Aiden’s adoption. She welcomed daughter Rylynn in 2013 and son Logan in 2014. They currently reside with Lori’s parents.
RELATED STORY: Former “16 and Pregnant” Star Lori Wickelhaus Sentenced to 6.5 Years in Prison After Pleading Guilty to Child Porn Charges
(Photos: Kentucky Department of Corrections; MTV)
Parents
Wood chipper. Feet first, of course.
These people cannot be rehabilitated.
I wish the dudes from D.A.P. would smack her around and put her on blast in public for the rest of her life.
Gosh, this is hideous. And the fact that she has two children. I hope her parents never let her near her own children. People like that are sick in their mind. (THAT’S WHY I don’t approve of parents sharing pictures/videos/whatever of their children…you never know who is watching!)
If it was a man, he will have to register as a sex offender forever and serve decades in jail!
Men don’t get decades in jail for CSAM either. Even those who are “sentenced” to more than 15 years won’t actually serve that entire time. Most of the time they serve roughly 1/2 to 2/3 and that’s it (that’s the same for most convictions/sentences though). CSAM doesn’t carry a very hefty sentence, sadly, anywhere in the world.
Although she WILL have to register as a sex offender, all who are convicted of CSAM do, regardless of gender. Still, she doesn’t care, has never cared and hasn’t shown an ounce of remorse (like all pedophiles).
People like her and Josh Duggar should be forcibly sterilized. In fact, all pedophiles and child abusers should have to be forcibly sterilized. At least then they wouldn’t be able to have more children of their own to torture.
Sterilization won’t help. They don’t offend with their genitalia or reproductive organs. They need to be imprisoned for life or get a very long prison sentence combined with being blinded and having their dominant hand amputated. Hard to see a child victim when you’re eyes aren’t there. And you can’t pin anyone down or assault them when you only have one hand and you can barely manage to feed yourself with it. .
Any person who has any association with any child in a situation like that deserves a long slow fucking death. Torture, every nail being ripped off. Ugh! Scum of the fucking earth. Sentenced to 6 years but didn’t even serve THAT?! Wtf is wrong with our system??
I love the way they act like monitoring someone after prison somehow makes them less likely to reoffend. Or that somehow makes kids safer from pedophiles? It’s such horse shit. If you were sick enough to EVER view CSAM then you will reoffend multiple times. Look at Josh Dugger. IMO anyone man or woman that views these disgusting images of children should never see the light of day again.
Nah, she needs to stay behind bars, along with any other demented piece of **** messes with kids. There are people who get more time for marijuana 🙄
Was Lori ever diagnosed?
I agree with the foster mother that Lori and BF were not equipped to be having a child, let alone Lori having 3.
26 months for a crime involving children!? And I thought Josh’s sentence was too light…
I don’t know if I just can’t read, but did someone put them on her computer and she got charged or she was looking at the dirty stuff?
She downloaded them herself. She was looking at them on multiple different days, and I am pretty sure she also passed them on to other people (but Id have to go back through the records to know for certain). They weren’t just on her computer, but also her phone (which is why they searched both).
She’s sick in the head and the fact that she got such a light sentence to begin with was ridiculous. Her getting out early now, just proves how fucked up the judicial system really is in this country.
NO ONE who has been charged and convicted of any crime involving CSAM should EVER be released from prison. That should always be a life sentence, period. She’s a pedophile, through and through, regardless of any other mental health issues she might have. Pedophiles cannot be changed, cannot be cured and cannot be stopped from continuing to have the same thoughts they always have (whether or not they act on them). They will always be dangerous people with great potential to be even more so. It’s not worth the risk.
I hope to god she is never allowed around her own, or any, children ever again (I doubt that would happen, though, I’m sure she will be).
She’ll probably get her kids back from her parents eventually and then she’ll move to North Carolina where Jenelle lives because as we all know, people can do whatever they want to kids in that state and it will just be a misdemeanor or it will be ignored completely!
I couldn’t agree more. When you look at any pedophiles that are actually caught, it isn’t their first time. Repeated offenses, some get jail time only to be released and the ones that are released on parole usually end up violating that parole. The so called “justice system” releases them knowing they are a danger to children.
This offense needs much, much harsher punishment. No ifs, ands or buts. Crimes against children should not be dealt with lightly.
I hope she never gets unsupervised visits with her poor kids.
I hope she isn’t allowed access to her children upon release. Such a short sentence for such a disgusting crime!
I don’t think child predators can be rehabilitated. She belongs in prison.
Also remembering her episode her mom
Didn’t want to raise her baby and now look at the situation. She’s got two of them.