ST. ANTHONY, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho man will spend about four months in jail for taking his 14-year-old daughter to Missouri to marry a 24-year-old man who raped and impregnated her.
The father pleaded guilty to injury to a child last week, and a judge put him behind bars for 120 days and ordered four years of supervised probation, the Idaho State Journal reported.
"I would note that the 120 days is approximately how long this vile farce of a marriage lasted," Seventh District Judge Gregory Moeller told him at the sentencing. "While you sit in jail, you will sit and think about the 120 days your daughter was in a vile farce of a marriage to a rapist because of you."
The Associated Press does not generally identify victims of sexual abuse and is withholding the name of the father and man involved in the marriage to avoid identifying the girl.
The father believed that a man should marry a girl he gets pregnant and picked a state where 14-year-olds can legally wed, according to court documents. He told the judge that he loved his daughter and would never intentionally harm her but acknowledged making a bad decision.
"Clearly, your daughter underwent great bodily harm based on some of your choices," Moeller told the girl's father.
The girl and the man lived together for four months. The teen miscarried, and when she returned to Idaho, her mother filed for an annulment, officials said.
The 24-year-old was sentenced in April to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to felony rape. He must serve three years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.
