Jacob Lathan
A 24-year-old Calico Rock man charged with accepting sexual favors from two girls then ages 14-and-16-years-old — as payment for a ride he gave them so the teens could allegedly purchase LSD appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Jacob Lathan was initially charged with fourth degree sexual assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Prosecutors lowered the sexual assault charge to battery.
Prosecutor David Ethredge said as the investigation developed, the facts turned out much different from what law officers were first told at the time the probable cause affidavit was written.
Lathan was put on probation for three years. His plea was taken under Act 346, meaning if he stays out of trouble during his probation, he can petition the court to have his record sealed.
An investigation into the incident was launched after the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline received a report on Oct. 8, 2019 that a 14-year-old girl had exchanged sex for a ride she was given by Lathan.
The two young girls were interviewed the same month the report was made and went over the details of what they claimed happened.
The older of the two girls said she called and asked Lathan for a ride for her and her 14-year-old friend and he agreed.
The older of the two girls was not specific in spelling out what the trip was for in her interview, only saying they “both needed a ride somewhere.”
It was alleged the agreement at the outset was that the older girl would perform a sex act on Lathan in payment for the transportation.
The girls accepted the ride, and the sex acts took place in a campground below Norfork Dam, according to the probable cause affidavit.
The stories provided by the younger victim became somewhat tangled at times.
According to the probable cause affidavit, she told investigators it was agreed during the initial phone call the older girl would “pay” for the ride with sex.
At another point, the same victim said the sex-for-transportation agreement did not come up until later when they were in Lathan’s vehicle.
The younger victim said she was going to pay Lathan gas money, but “couldn’t find it.” She said it was then Lathan allegedly told them they both could pay for the ride by performing oral sex on him.
The youngest victim said Lathan had asked her how old she was at one point and she had told him 14.
Lathan is alleged to have admitted to investigators the older girl had called and asked him to take her and her 14-year-old friend to buy some “acid,” assumed to mean lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).
He said he picked them up at the Jordan store and took them to meet two unidentified males from whom the girls were alleged to have purchased the hallucinogen.
He then drove them to the campground where each girl is alleged to have performed a sex act on him.
Lathan was represented by Mountain Home attorney Matt Stone.
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