A state senator in Wyoming who’s running against U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and four others in a Republican primary acknowledged he impregnated a 14-year-old girl when he was 18, vowing not to end his campaign for Congress.
It was a disclosure he said he was forced to make because of “the establishment swamp,” but he did not explicitly blame Cheney or any of the other candidates in the race.
“Everybody has something in their life that they did … We’ve all had these problems. Why is this a big deal?” state Sen. Anthony Bouchard said Thursday in a Facebook Live video about the relationship.
“So, bottom line, it’s a story when I was young. Two teenagers, girl gets pregnant. You’ve heard those stories before. She was a little younger than me, so it’s like the Romeo and Juliet story,” he said.
In the 424-year-old William Shakespeare tragedy “Romeo and Juliet,” Juliet’s age is given as 13, but Romeo’s age is not mentioned. The age of consent in England at the time was 12.
Bouchard did not mention his age or the girl’s age in the video, but later told the Casper Star-Tribune that she was 14 and he was 18 at the time he impregnated her in Florida, where the age of consent was and remains 18.
Bouchard did not return a call and email for comment from NBC News on Friday.
Bouchard admits to what he did with the comment “What’s the big deal?”, knowing that he is rich and powerful and therefore will never see the inside of a prison cell, unlike ordinary people like the rest of us who lose jobs and housing when someone sees us on the registry.
The rich and powerful are coated in legal Teflon.
Good luck finding him on any registry.
Criminal laws don’t apply to politicians.
I wonder how he feels about thousands of people who literally did what he did and even less so, being on the sex offender registry? I wonder how much he’s against the registry? I’m going to take a shot in the dark and guess he’s fine with it and wouldn’t blink in making it worse to move his political carrier along.
What the hell.. i was only 3 years apart from my wife at the time Riverside county DA office decided to prosecute me I also steeped up and did the right thing and married my wife at 18.
Looking back at it all I have mixed feelings about the whole situation on one hand i regret what happened to me because being labeled a sex offender has completely ruined my life and on the other hand if I never had met my wife i wouldn’t have my 3 beautiful children who I couldn’t imagine not being in my life.
After reading this article I’m starting to feel like my only crime was not haveing hundred thousands dollars in my bank account to fight my case instead I got a riverside county Public Defender and he couched me into taking a plea deal I was so young and scared at that time i would’ve took anything they threw at me
Good luck 😈
I rather support Rep Cheney than this guy. Bet he has problems with youngsters engaging in sex and getting pregnant; yet he did the same as a teen. Typical hypocrite and I bet he is pro registry, anti sex and a Qnanon supporter. Wonder how that will fly in the Equality State!
Should ask him using current WY law: https://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/resources/wyoming-statutory-rape-laws.htm#:~:text=In%20Wyoming%2C%20there%20is%20a,years%20older%20than%20the%20minor.
I bet he’s against teens who engage in sex while 14 years old. Another hypocrite in the rodeo; which explains why he’s running. He wants to be a rodeo clown.
Come on! 1/4 of the population was conceived through the legal definition of rape. Underage girls spreading their legs and getting pregnant. I bet at least 60% of the U.S. leadership at county, state and federal levels have committed what is considered a punishable sex offense. We just happen to be the poor saps that were targeted. Only thing this story does is frustrate registrants. Nothing else.
Does Florida have a statute of limitations for statutory rape? Just askin’.
Veritas.
I appreciate this candidate’s candid disclosure, and as such I trust him far more than Liz. Cheney like her former U.S. V.P. is deep in bed with deep state spooks. I’ve a real problem, as a citizen, stomaching their unholy alliance with big tech giants and those ubiquitous internet firms referred to in the Packingham case opinion, to engage in warrantless domestic surveillance, and data collection. These collections are very valuable for the political class and the money backing them. They are all experts at cloak and dagger and very good at keeping themselves and their agendas hidden. President Trump was a real threat to them primarily because of his lack of filter between brain and mouth, the Liz voted to impeach. It cost her a seat at the Adult table of GOP
The woman died from suicide when she was 20. No doubt traumatized by her life decisions and this man’s actions. In the article he takes ZERO responsibility and seems to blow the whole thing off as more of a nuisance to his candidacy, blaming others for “ dragging up his past”. What needs to be drug is his body behind a truck for a few miles.
The son he had with the 14 yr old woman has been jailed for forced sodomy. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Like father like son……….
Maybe we should ask him if it is o.k. for one of our sons to impregnate his minor daughter.
Too bad this couldn’t be plastered all over a billboard somewhere or one of those electronic billboards, i wonder if any body has ever hacked those roadside service message billboards before that would be a sight to see!