Mother Tracks Down, Rapes Son
When preparing to meet a long-lost biological parent for the first time, a child who was previously given up for adoption would presumably try to prepare themselves for all of the possible outcomes of the meeting. The reunion could be a joyous one where the child and the parent reconnect and begin making up for lost time. The reunion could also be an awkward one, where the two discover that they lack any sort of personal connection whatsoever. Or, as a child in Michigan recently experienced, the reunion could be part of a bizarre scheme by the parent to seduce and rape their own biological child.
Michigan police say a thirty-five year-old mother who gave her son up for adoption more than a decade ago recently used the internet to track him down, seduce him, and rape him. She has been arraigned on three charges of criminal sexual conduct for raping her biological son, who is only ten years-old. The mother maintains her innocence and is currently awaiting trial. Mental health experts consulted for comment about the case described the conduct as “an abomination” and voiced their concerns that the repercussions of the conduct may have long-lasting effects on the minor child.
Under Tennessee law, the mother could be faced with a litany of charges, the most serious being rape of a child under T.C.A. section 39-13-522. Rape of a child is defined as “unlawful sexual penetration of a victim by the defendant or the defendant by a victim, if the victim is more than three (3) years of age but less than thirteen (13) years of age.
Assuming sexual penetration, which is defined in T.C.A. section 39-13-501(7), took place in the case described above, all of the elements of the statute would be satisfied. Rape of a child in Tennessee is a Class A Felony and T.C.A. section 39-13-522 requires that the offender be sentenced to a minimum of twenty-five years of imprisonment. In addition, the offender will be classified as a sex offender pursuant to T.C.A. section 39-13-703 and must comply with the rules and regulations concerning sex offenders in Tennessee.
While rape of a child is the most serious offense the mother could be charged with in Tennessee, it is not the only offense with which the mother could be charged; other possible charges and lesser included offenses are: incest, rape, aggravated statutory rape, sexual battery by an authority figure, and statutory rape by an authority figure.
Sources:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549323,00.html?sPage=fnc/us/crime; T.C.A. section 39-13-522; T.C.A. section 39-13-507; T.C.A. section 39-13-703.
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