Ex-Mayor May Be Blocked From Her Daughter's Graduation
Linda Lusk faces opposition from her daughter's school district.
Sept. 13, 2013 — -- More than three years after being charged with third-degree child molestation and having to register as a level one sex offender, Linda Lusk has a new battle to face: going to her daughter's high school graduation.
In 2010, Lusk, a mother of five and the former mayor of Prosser, Wash., a small town of about 6,000 people, was accused of having sexual contact with her teenage daughter's ex-boyfriend, Bubba Frank, then 14.
Frank did not go to police, but told friends that Lusk performed oral sex on him. Lusk denied the oral sex allegation, but she did admit to police that during a visit to her house her hand had grazed Frank's penis at one point.
Lusk pleaded guilty with an Alford plea -- a plea in which a defendant maintains she did not commit a crime but admits prosecutors have enough information to convict her -- and she served two months of a 90-day jail sentence with a year of probation. Lusk also had to register as a level-one sex offender.
Due to the limitation of her probation, Lusk was unable to attend many of her children's extracurricular activities or even their birthday parties. When her children had sleepovers, Lusk had to spend the night in the basement of the handbag boutique she owns to avoid being near children, other than her own, under the age of 16.
Lusk completed her probation in 2012, lifting any restriction on being around children. However, days before she says Prosser School District, where her children are enrolled, implemented a new policy forcing her to ask permission to attend parent-teacher conferences and her children's various school activities or any event taking place on Prosser School district property.
"My son Riley was moved to the varsity baseball playoffs," Lusk recalled in one of her email requests for permission. "I am requesting permission to attend any and all games for the remainder of the school year."
According to Lusk, Superintendent Ray Tolcacher replied: "If baseball games are at other school districts, we have no trespass authority. At Prosser, request is denied."
So far, Lusk said, all of her requests to attend her children's events have been denied.
"The fact that I've been denied access to their parent-teacher conferences gives me grave concern that they're going to deny my access to graduation," Lusk said.
ABC News' "20/20" contacted the Prosser School District, which said that it had not made a decision about allowing Lusk to attend her daughter's graduation yet.
Lusk's family supported her throughout the aftermath of the sex scandal, including her daughter Karlie Lusk, whose graduation Lusk hopes to attend. Bubba Frank had briefly dated Karlie Lusk before the scandal.
"It's not fair," Karlie told ABC News' "20/20" in 2011. "It's a lot of restricting and like unnecessary things."
Even Lusk's husband at the time, Kevin Lusk, stood by her side.
"I believe her," Kevin told ABC News' "20/20" in a 2011 interview. "I support her." Kevin later filed for divorce from Lusk in June 2012, which was later finalized in 2013.
Both her daughter and husband believed Lusk acted so recklessly with Bubba Frank because of the loss of another boy she once cared for at home.
Tragedy struck the family in 2009 when Lusk's son Taylor died. Taylor suffered from a rare genetic disorder called Trisomy 13. When he was born, doctors said he was "incompatible with life" and wouldn't live past a week, but he defied the odds and lived until he was 15 years old.
"If she hadn't, you know, suffered the loss from Taylor, and you know, if she hadn't been where she was, I'm positive this wouldn't have happened," Karlie told "20/20" in 2011.
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