From this morning’s Boston Herald:
SALEM – A mother who prostituted her 8-year-old daughter to a man in exchange for crack cocaine was sentenced Friday to 15 to 18 years in state prison.
Mary Jean Armstrong, 38, was charged with seven counts each of child rape and indecent assault and battery, two counts of inducting a minor into prostitution and other child-abuse charges.
Armstong later told police her daughter had been molested as many as 50 times in a two-year period.
Police began investigating in 2004 after a rapist, Richard Lapham, showed photographs of him raping the victim to an acquaintance who later stole those photos and handed them over to police. Lapham is now serving a 15- to 18-year prison sentence.
When investigators searched Lapham
According to the Salem News, “Doyle comes from a well-known Salem family. His father was a principal of Salem High; his uncle was the longtime presiding judge at Salem District Court; his brother is a coach; one cousin is a judge; and another is a prosecutor.”
Could be that’s why Judge Leila Kern imposed such a light sentence, in spite of prosecutor Elizabeth Dunigan’s request for four to six years. By the way, the intimidation of the witness charge carried a heavier penalty, a year in jail, than child endangerment, five years probation.
Meanwhile, Mary Jean Armstrong’s lawyer offered the typical, shop-worn excuses for his client’s criminal activity: she was addicted to crack, she has a low IQ, she was molested herself, it was someone else’s (the rapist’s) fault, etc.
While I appreciate the fact that the judge threw these three into the slammer, I resent the fact that tax dollars are being used for their care and feeding.
Child molestation is not curable, and I wish that the judicial system, the legislature and for that matter, religious institutions would wake up to that fact.