Child Abuse Horror, Mom Gets 15-18 Years

(Salem, Massachusetts) It doesn't get more disgusting than this story. A 38-year-old mother of two, Mary Jean Armstrong, was sentenced by Salem Superior Court Judge Leila Kern to 15 to 18 years in prison for conviction of multiple criminal counts related to prostituting her 8-year-old daughter in exchange for drugs. In 2005, co-defendent Richard Lapham was sentenced to 15 to 18 years in prison for raping the little girl.

According to prosecutor Elizabeth Dunigan, the case was prompted in 2004 after police were tipped to photos showing child sex abuse.

Police used the photos to get a search warrant for Lapham's apartment, expecting to find more photos. They walked in on a horrific scene: the little girl, 9 at the time, naked under a blanket, Lapham dressed in his underwear, a pornographic video playing on the television.

Armstrong was in a bedroom with her other child, a 12-year-old boy who is autistic. And, said her lawyer, she was already high on cocaine and painkillers.

The little girl told police officers that Lapham had undressed her and made her touch him and that it had happened many times. Armstrong would tell police that it happened as many as 50 times during a 16-month period, sometimes in Lapham's apartment and sometimes in her Beverly apartment.

It's reported that even veteran police officers were traumatized by what was found at Lapham's apartment.

A second man, 42-year-old Patrick Doyle, had previously been sentenced by Judge Kern to one-year in prison for convictions of child endangerment and witness intimidation for smoking crack and having sex with Armstrong and another woman as a crying little girl was raped repeatedly by Lapham. Doyle did nothing to stop the rape and he threatened the woman who tipped the police to the situation, Jill Pena-Contreras.

Armstrong's lawyer, William Martin, asserted that she should be given a lighter sentence since she was molested as a child and had an IQ of 59. On the other hand, due to the depravity of the crimes, Dunigan asked for 25 to 30 years in prison for Armstrong. Judge Kern settled on 15 to 18 years followed by 10 years probation.

The Armstrong case has garnered significant public attention and produced outrage regarding child expoiltation. And despite the fact that she followed legislative guidelines, Judge Kern has been criticized for perceived leniency in the sentence given to Patrick Doyle.