An Oklahoma mayor’s daughter who is also the wife of the town’s police chief was found guilty on Wednesday of soliciting sex from a 15-year-old student she taught.
Emma Delaney Hancock, 28, will spend the next four years in prison for two counts of soliciting sex with a minor through the use of technology, KFOR reported
She is married to Wellston Police Chief Alfred Hancock, with whom she shares two children, and is the daughter of Wellston Mayor Paul Whitnah.
Hancock, a former substitute teacher in Wellston, began talking to the then 15-year-old boy on Oct. 6, 2022, after the student put his number into her phone in the preface of needing help with an assignment.
Hancock sent a friend request to the minor later that night and the two began a conversation for several weeks.
The messages soon turned lewd when the teen, who remains unidentified, sent a shirtless pic to Hancock over the social media app.
“Are we sending half-naked pictures now?” Hancock responded.
The teen replied: “I don’t know, are we?”
“Are you trying to get me to lose my job?” Hancock allegedly said.
The pair then shared naked photos and sexually explicit videos, the student told investigators in Nov. 2022, KOKH reported, citing an arrest affidavit.
The student alleged that he and Hancock would, on two occasions, meet in the classroom the then 26-year-old was subbing in and make out inside a closet during the teen’s lunch, claiming the teacher groped him at least once.
The teen claimed Hancock would also allow him to take hits from her vape pen.
Rumors began to spread about the illegal relationship after the teen reportedly told one of his friends, who went to confront Hancock.
Hancock initially denied any wrongdoing but then allegedly admitted to the inappropriate behavior, saying it would “not amount to anything because they were not going to get caught.”
Authorities obtained a search warrant for Hancock’s Snapchat account and discovered videos of the classroom incidents.
She turned herself in on April 13, 2023.
During the trial, Hancock’s husband, Alfred Hancock, testified in support of his wife, saying he believed she didn’t do anything wrong.
“She looked me dead in the eyes and said, there’s nothing [on her phone]. I mean, I believe that there’s nothing there,” the police chief told jurors in Oct. according to NonDoc.com. “She’s my wife. I believe her. I’m on her side.”
Hancock, 28, who goes by Delaney, denied the relationship with the teen and claimed she never sent or received any sexual messages from the boy.
She was found guilty of two of the five charges she faced.
She was acquitted of two charges of “lewd or indecent acts to (a) child under 16,” and one of “soliciting sexual conduct or communication with (a) minor by use of technology.
Lincoln County District Court Judge Sheila Kirk sentenced Hancock on Wednesday to six years in prison, three for each charge.
The convicted felon will only have to serve four years behind bars if she adheres to the sentence, KOKH reported.
Along with the prison time, Hancock will have to register as a sex offender.
The teen had reportedly turned to online schooling after his relationship with Hancock and the subsequent trial left him uncomfortable.
“It’s just too much,” one of the teen’s family members told KFOR. “So, he’s going to go back online. So, his entire high school years were online. So, we missed all that. The sports events, the prom, walking across the stage.”