TN- DCS lists teen dad-to-be as sexual abuser because of age gap

10-29-2004 Tennessee:

.NASHVILLE, Tenn. An 18-year-old dad-to-be is being listed as a sexual abuser by the Department of Children's Services because his girlfriend was 13 when he married her out of state. Robert Benjamin Martin could be charged with statutory rape under Tennessee law because it is a crime for someone to have sex with a person under age 16 if there is at least a four-year age difference.

The children's protective agency views Martin as a sex offender and his girlfriend, Chastity Long, as a victim. The state claims the two began having sex when she was 12. Chastity's mother, Tonya Long, contends the couple are in love and it violates her religious rights as a Christian to prevent her from having them married. Chastity is now eight months' pregnant.

On October eighth, Long's husband took the couple to Mississippi, where minors can marry with their parents' permission, and they were wed. However, D-C-S said it took legal custody of Chastity on October sixth, and has questioned the validity of the marriage. : ..more.. by WVLT TV Tennessee



Tennessee gets Mississippi to void marriage between groom, 18, pregnant bride, 13

10-20-2004 Tennessee:

What God hath joined together, the state Department of Children's Services has torn asunder.

That's the way Tanya Long sees it after learning this week that the state agency that temporarily took her pregnant 13-year-old daughter from her has convinced Mississippi officials to void the girl's marriage to the baby's father.

"They voided a marriage done in God's eyes," Long said.

It was Long's belief that her daughter, Chastity, should wed 18-year-old Robert Benjamin Martin that led DCS to go to Knox County Juvenile Court two weeks ago to declare Long a neglectful mother and Chastity in need of state protection, records show.

"The mother wants (Chastity and Martin) to marry," the DCS petition read. "The mother indicates her daughter would be able to marry in Biblical times and (believes) Mr. Martin and her daughter should be together."

Although a DCS spokeswoman has told the Associated Press there was "more to" the state's case than that, the petition makes no other allegation of neglect. ..more.. by KnoxNews