A northeastern Indiana woman has admitted to charges that she allowed her boyfriend to molest her daughter, leaving the child pregnant at age 10.
The 33-year-old Marion woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of neglect, aiding child molesting and assisting a criminal. She agreed to accept a sentence of 20 years in prison and five years of probation.
The woman admitted during Tuesday’s hearing that her daughter told her that the boyfriend, 34-year-old Nicholas Deon Thrash, was molesting her, yet continued to let him live with them, the Chronicle Tribune reported. The woman did not report the molestation or her daughter’s pregnancy to authorities.
The child’s grandmother, who is not identified in order to protect the victim’s identify, told WISH that she had met Thrash multiple times and never thought he would be capable of such a horrific crime. She said he had the family fooled.
At the time, she said it is heartbreaking to watch her granddaughter go through the pregnancy.
“Now her whole life has changed. … She’s scared, being this far along and having to carry this baby,” the girl’s grandmother told WISH. “She’d come out and ask, ‘Can I get my Barbies?’ I said, ‘Of course you can.’ She’s still a little girl that wants to play, and now her whole life has changed. She’s scared, being in that for so long and knowing you have to carry this baby.”
Thrash was sentenced last week to 160 years in prison after being convicted of 10 counts of child molesting.
The woman agreed to have no contact with her now 12-year-old daughter until the girl’s counselor “deems it appropriate.” The Associated Press is not naming the woman to protect the identity of the girl.
Deputy Grant County Prosecutor Lisa Glancy said she was glad for the sake of the victim that the woman pleaded guilty instead of taking it to trial.
“We were certainly ready to go to trial in a few weeks, but the emotional and psychological toll would have been significantly more (for this trial) than the Thrash trial,” Glancy said.
The girl testified against Thrash, saying he molested her at least 15 times. According to Fox 59, prosecutors say the girl gave birth to a boy in September 2017 at age 11.
Glancy said it likely would have been difficult for the victim to testify against her mother.
The victim is currently in foster care, and the son she gave birth to was given up for adoption.
“She’s doing better. That’s all that we can hope for right now. She’s at a really good place,” Glancy said.
