Mom gets 30 years in prison for letting daughter to marry man 34 years older

A mother in Texas has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for allegedly allowing her 13-year-old daughter to marry a man who was 47 years old.
Cherry Payton, 43, was sentenced to 30 years in jail in Fort Bend County last week for enabling her daughter to marry someone 34 years her senior, according to KIAH. In 2017, the daughter told her doctor that she was having sexual relations with “her spouse,” who was 34 years her senior. Payton allegedly stated that her daughter was married and that she had consented to the marriage since it was in accordance with their “religious beliefs.” Before telling her doctor, KIAH discovered that her daughter had been married for nearly a year. Payton and her daughter were involved in other suspected sexual abuse instances.
KPRC-TV says as deputies investigated the claims, they arrested the daughter’s husband, Steven Carty, 47. He was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. Deputies also learned that there was no record of a marriage license in the county which established the marriage was not legal. KPRC-TV says the religion that Payton claimed to be part of the marriage was part of the Hebrew Israelites’ faith. In Texas, the age to get married is 18 but there are exceptions that could allow a minor to marry at the age of 16.
Payton is accused of sexually abusing a young child on a regular basis. She faces a sentence of 30 years in prison. KPRC-TV says the husband, Carty, has received two sentences: 22 years and 20 years for aggravated sexual assault of a child and sexual assault of a child. Both Payton and Carty will be required to register as sex offenders for the remainder of their lives.