[THEPOSTMILLENNIAL] A former Oregon elementary school teaching assistant and "drag mom" to a controversial child drag performer has been convicted of 11 felonies over the distribution of child sex abuse content and sentenced to less than a year in a local jail.
Kelsey Meta Boren, 33, was convicted in Lane County, Ore. on March 23 of 11 felony counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree. A single charge of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct was dismissed as part of the plea deal. Boren was sentenced to 330 days in county jail—30 days for each felony count—in a sweetheart deal agreed upon between the district attorney’s office and her counsel.
"Our office must decide each case individually, taking into account the facts of the offenses, and the nature of the offender," wrote Lane County Deputy District Attorney Robert Lane to The Post Millennial. "This case was assigned to me, and I made those decisions."
Before being arrested, Boren worked as a teaching assistant for special education students at Veneta Elementary in Veneta, Ore. According to court documents, she told detectives that her need for child sex abuse content was like an "uncontrollable itch that she couldn't stop." The deputy district attorney told TPM her victims have no relationship to the school or children there.
This writer originally reported in October 2022 that Boren was one of the long-term "drag moms" to an 11-year-old child drag performer being featured at a Eugene leftist pub. A "drag mom" is a drag performer who teaches a younger or inexperienced person the tricks of the trade. Boren used the stage name "Alwaiz Craving" (always craving) and had been one of several adults grooming the child into drag performing since she was at least seven years old.
The two were close and the child even adopted part of Boren’s stage name into her own drag persona as "Vanellope Craving." Photographs on the child’s Facebook show her being showered on stage with dollar bills and dressing in revealing outfits. "Vanellope" has CashApp and Venmo accounts where adults are encouraged by handlers to send cash.