A city woman faces an aggravated statutory rape charge after police say she had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old child who lived in her neighborhood.
The Carter County Sheriff’s Office arrested Christina Gail Biddix, 44, of 104 Brookdale Drive, Apt. A, Johnson City, on Wednesday on a warrant charging her with one count of aggravated statutory rape. The apartment Biddix lives in is located in the Pinecrest community and while it has a Johnson City address, it is inside the city limits of Elizabethton.
The warrant for Biddix’s arrest was taken out by Elizabethton Police Department Sgt. Christopher Bowers who was investigating a complaint of statutory rape.
On Sunday, EPD Cpl. James Sexton went to Biddix’s apartment in reference to a runaway 15-year-old male, who had returned home prior to Sexton’s arrival at the apartment.
The juvenile’s mother told officers she suspected her son was having an inappropriate relationship with Biddix, who lived near them.
When officers spoke with the juvenile, he admitted he and Biddix had been having a sexual relationship, beginning about two or three months after Biddix moved into the neighborhood in March 2015, Bowers said.
The mother allowed officers to take her son’s cellphone into evidence and gave her permission for investigators to search through the phone. Bowers said the cellphone contained photographs of Biddix and the juvenile lying together on a couch and kissing each other.
“I also observed text messages between the two in which they say they love each other and one text where Ms. Biddix tells (the juvenile) to tell his mother he has been at her residence for ‘homework,’” Bowers said.
Because of the age difference between Biddix and the male juvenile, she is charged with aggravated statutory rape. Under state law, aggravated statutory rape occurs when a sexual act takes place between a victim that is at least 13 years old but younger than 18 years old, and the suspect is at least 10 years older than the victim. In the arrest warrant, Bowers notes that Biddix is “28 years, eight months and 14 days” older than the juvenile.
Under state law, aggravated statutory rape is classified as a “Class D” felony and is punishable by 2-12 years in prison and a fine.