Trial Underway For Woman Accused In Child Sex Exploitation Case

The trial is underway for a 43-year-old East Wenatchee woman accused of arranging inappropriate phone and video communications between a 13-year-old child and a jail inmate. 

Raquel Ann Langhurst is accused of arranging calls between late December of 2021 and January of 2022 between the child and 36-year-old Kenneth Allan Crabtree, who was in the Okanogan County Jail at the time. 

A jury was sworn in Tuesday to begin hearing the case against Langhurst, who faces five felony counts of Communication with a Minor for Immoral Purposes, as well as five misdemeanor charges of Violating a No-Contact Order. 

A statement of probable cause says Langhurst filed a protective order against Crabtree while seeking to get a daycare license from the state Child Protective Services.  

The probable cause statement says Crabtree previously lived at a residence in East Wenatchee with Langhurst and her husband and had a romantic relationship with Langhurst. 

The child also lived at the residence and officers say Crabtree had groomed the child to believe she was in love with him. 

Court documents claim Langhurst paid to have video contact with Crabtree while he was in jail. 

She's accused of making and receiving calls from Crabtree while he was in jail and giving the phone to the child multiple times. 

Crabtree was charged in the case in 2022 and in June of this year, pleaded guilty to Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Communication with a Minor and four counts of Violating a Court Order by communicating with a child while under a no contact order with her. 

He received a 7.5-year sentence for his conviction in the case.