Man Weds Pregnant 14-Year-Old,Is Charged With Rape

[Lastplaneout]

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1121138&page=1


Man Weds Pregnant 14-Year-Old, Is Charged With Rape
Sept. 13, 2005 -- In May, Matthew Koso married his girlfriend, Crystal, who was pregnant with their child. But the new father and husband may soon be separated from his family and sent to prison. His crime? Koso is 22; Crystal is 14.

Related: Vote: Should Matthew Koso Be Charged?

Koso is charged with statutory rape in his home state of Nebraska and faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted. The couple married in Kansas with their parents' blessing, where the wedding was legal.

"I'm so scared that I am going to lose both of them, and I don't want to," Matthew Koso said through tears. "Right now there isn't anything that I love more than my wife and my daughter."

Matthew first met Crystal through her half-brother, and they began dating in the fall of 2003 when he was 20 and she was 12. She was 13 when she became pregnant and 14 when she married Matthew in Kansas, one of only a few states that allows children as young as 12 to marry with parental consent.

"At that time, our options were limited," said Matthew's mother, Peggy Koso. "It was either abortion, which was well past due; adoption, which was out of the question; and then it was to marry her, which we thought was the right thing to do."

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning learned about the relationship from residents of Falls City, Neb. — the couple's hometown — in July, and charged Matthew Koso with first-degree sexual assault.

"We cannot allow grown men to have sex with children even if the parents think it is right, because the grown man thinks it is right and the child thinks it is right," Bruning said. "Society doesn't think it is right."

Matthew Koso pleaded not guilty to the charge and his trial is set to begin Oct. 13. He was released on $5,000 bond in time for the birth of his daughter, Samara, on Aug. 24.

One in five teenagers has sex before turning 15, and about 150,000 babies are born each year to a minor parent. In Nebraska, there were 25 births to mothers under 15 in 2002, the latest year for which those statistics are available. In Kansas, five girls under 15 were married in 2003, three in 2002 and six in 2001.

In Nebraska, sex between an adult and a person younger than 16 is considered statutory rape, whether the couple is married or not.

Matthew Koso could face further charges for two to three additional relationships with girls between the ages of 12 and 14 when he was 20, according the Nebraska attorney general's office.

Matthew Koso's lawyer would not allow him to comment, but Peggy Koso has said her son has dated only one other girl under 16, and they did not have sex.

Residents of Falls City have sent hundreds of letters and gifts in support of Matthew and Crystal, and call Bruning a home wrecker.

"I am ready to raise this child and I know I can," Crystal said.

Falls City, Neb., is a town of 4,600 about 100 miles south of Omaha. Crystal described it as a place of few opportunities.

"Here in Falls City you have two choices: go get drunk or high and die in a car accident or of an overdose, or go get pregnant," she said. "So which is the wrong choice?"

Crystal's father left when she was a baby, and her mother is on disability. She said she had to fend for herself as a child. Currently she is living with Matthew and Samara in Matthew's parents' basement, and says she wants to focus on her new family finishing high school. She recently started her freshman year.

"The people judging, like the attorney general, don't know me," Crystal said. "I can make these decisions. I know what I want, and if I'm willing to take the consequences, then I should be able to decide what I want."

She added that if Samara starts dating a 20-year-old when she is 12, she will "send her to her room

THis girl is like my sister's age....I really don't even know what to think [/url]

[rednekkPH]

Mr. & Mrs. Pedophile were interviewed on GMA today. To me, they both seem borderline retarded. Neither one was able to comprehend and/or answer even basic questions about their situation. Their child doesn't stand a chance...

[buffettbride]

birth control
n.
Voluntary limitation or control of the number of children conceived, especially by planned use of contraceptive techniques.
A contraceptive technique.

[pbans]

Matthew first met Crystal through her half-brother, and they began dating in the fall of 2003 when he was 20 and she was 12.

WTF?

That's my daughter's age.......

A 12 year old DATING....really?
A 20 year old DATING a 12 year old.....
The problem should have been dealt with THEN.....if the mother was aware, she should be charged with failure to protect.....get the kid in to foster care......where they can keep her in a cage, okay....not a perfect solution....

Sorry, CHILDREN cannot consent to sex.......PERIOD.
Lock his sorry a$$ up.

[PHBeerman]

Mr. & Mrs. Pedophile were interviewed on GMA today. To me, they both seem borderline retarded. Neither one was able to comprehend and/or answer even basic questions about their situation. Their child doesn't stand a chance...

No wonder Darren has not been around lately.

[iuparrothead]

That makes me want to vomit.

The parents of the 14 yr old should be ashamed of themselves.

[Ilph]

There are so many things wrong with this situation. Where do we even begin?????

[jonesbeach10]

There are so many things wrong with this situation. Where do we even begin?????

like the fact that she could make the decisions on her own and that the AG "doesn't know her," yet if her daughter were in the same situation, she would send her daughter to her room.

[sailingagain]

Pretty much everyone I knew started having sex around 14 or 15.

Of course not with 22 year olds. That's atrocious that the parents would condone that.

[kitty]

Pretty much everyone I knew started having sex around 14 or 15.

WHAT????
believe it or not...I was 17!

[AlbatrossFlyer]

Pretty much everyone I knew started having sex around 14 or 15.

WHAT????
believe it or not...I was 17!

old maid

[Wino you know]

Pretty much everyone I knew started having sex around 14 or 15.

WHAT????
believe it or not...I was 17!

18 here. I lived a pretty sheltered life.
Bonnie-wherever you are-THANK YOU

[12vmanRick]

you might have waited until 17 BACK THEN but they don't wait anymore. 14/15 they are doing it and it's the average. Demographically, socially, economically some are younger.

[tequilatom]

The new thing in schools around here now ,especially 12 years and up is oral sex!!!!Thats what 6th grade or about!!!

[Sam]

The new thing in schools around here now ,especially 12 years and up is oral sex!!!!Thats what 6th grade or about!!!

THANK YOU BILL CLINTON!!!
If if is good enough for the POTUS, and all the MSM, it must be good enough for kids.... ( Can you FEEL the sarcasm!!!?)

Here is another article...
*************************************************************
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9319446/

Eleven kids found in cages in home
Couple denies abusing or neglecting children

Updated: 6:46 p.m. ET Sept. 13, 2005
WAKEMAN, Ohio - The 11 children removed from a house where authorities say some of them slept in homemade cages are polite, well-behaved, well-dressed and appear to have been well-fed, neighbors and authorities said Tuesday.

Their adoptive parents, Michael Gravelle, 56, and Sharen Gravelle, 57, denied in a custody hearing Monday that they abused or neglected the children, who are ages 1 to 14 and have conditions that included autism and fetal alcohol syndrome.

No charges had been filed as of Tuesday afternoon, and messages left with the couple’s lawyer were not immediately returned.

The Gravelles have said a psychiatrist recommended they make the children sleep in the cages, Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler told the Norwalk Reflector. The parents said the children, including some who had mental disorders, needed to be protected from each other, according to a search warrant on file at Norwalk Municipal Court.

Leffler refused to speak with an Associated Press reporter Tuesday at his office.

8 children slept in cages stacked in bedrooms
Neighbors said they often saw or heard the children playing, and the family yard was littered with toys — plastic cars, tricycles, slides and an overturned skateboard near a wooden ramp. Seven bicycles were piled in a storage shed.

“Those kids were dressed better than some of the kids who live in Cleveland. They behaved like any other kids when they were outside playing,” said Jim Power, who lives across the street.

At night, authorities say, eight of the children were confined in 3½-foot-tall wooden cages stacked in bedrooms on the second floor. The cages were painted in bright, primary colors, with some rigged with alarms that would send a signal to the downstairs when a cage door was opened. One cage had a dresser in front of it, county sheriff’s Lt. Randy Sommers said Tuesday.

“The sheriff and I stood there for a few minutes and just kind of stared at what we were seeing. We were speechless,” Sommers said.

Children in foster homes
No one answered the Gravelles’ door Tuesday, and the gray, four-bedroom house was dark. A pig, roosters and other animals shared the yard outside Wakeman, a city of about 1,000 people 50 miles west of Cleveland.

The children have been placed with four foster families and were doing well, said Erich Dumbeck, director of the Huron County Department of Job and Family Services.

“We’re still trying to figure out what happened in that home. We don’t have any indication at this point that there was any abuse,” Dumbeck said.

Sommers said a social worker investigating a complaint contacted authorities. Dumbeck would not discuss the complaint.

According to the search warrant, the cages had mats and the house smelled of urine. One boy said he slept in a cage for three years, Sommers said. A baby slept in a small bed, and two girls used mattresses

Authorities called to home last year
Deputies said they were called to the home last year when a 12-year-old boy was upset and ran away for several hours. He was found not far away.

Although the family has lived in Huron County for 10 years, the children were adopted through other counties and states, Dumbeck said. He said his agency was trying to determine how the adoptions were completed.

“I don’t believe there were any caseworkers checking in with this family,” he said. Reviews are ordered only when there is a complaint.

One of the children, a boy born with HIV, was adopted as an infant in 2001 through the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, the agency’s director Jim McCafferty said. For caring for him, the Gravelles received a subsidy of at least $500 a month.

The private agencies who reviewed the couple’s home life before the adoption gave them “glowing reports,” McCafferty said.

Leah Hunter, who lives two houses away, said she often saw the children walking down the road.

“They looked OK. They hardly ever wore shoes but I’m a country girl and for me that’s normal,” she said.

[sy]

The new thing in schools around here now ,especially 12 years and up is oral sex!!!!Thats what 6th grade or about!!!

My mother teaches sixth grade. Two years ago a girl was kicked out for being pregnant (Catholic school) in sixth grade.

She also reports hearing kids as young as fourth grade talking about dating.

When I graduated from high school (guess maybe around 15 yrs ago?), there were at the very least two dozen pregnant girls in my class of about 300. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it's pretty damned noticeable when your valedictorian is eight months pregnant and giving a speech when the rulebook clearly stated expulsion for pregnancy. (sorry for that rant. Still to this day makes me mad).

[Ilph]

The new thing in schools around here now ,especially 12 years and up is oral sex!!!!Thats what 6th grade or about!!!

THANK YOU BILL CLINTON!!!
If if is good enough for the POTUS, and all the MSM, it must be good enough for kids.... ( Can you FEEL the sarcasm!!!?)

Here is another article...
*************************************************************
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9319446/

Eleven kids found in cages in home
Couple denies abusing or neglecting children

Updated: 6:46 p.m. ET Sept. 13, 2005
WAKEMAN, Ohio - The 11 children removed from a house where authorities say some of them slept in homemade cages are polite, well-behaved, well-dressed and appear to have been well-fed, neighbors and authorities said Tuesday.

Their adoptive parents, Michael Gravelle, 56, and Sharen Gravelle, 57, denied in a custody hearing Monday that they abused or neglected the children, who are ages 1 to 14 and have conditions that included autism and fetal alcohol syndrome.

No charges had been filed as of Tuesday afternoon, and messages left with the couple’s lawyer were not immediately returned.

The Gravelles have said a psychiatrist recommended they make the children sleep in the cages, Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler told the Norwalk Reflector. The parents said the children, including some who had mental disorders, needed to be protected from each other, according to a search warrant on file at Norwalk Municipal Court.

Leffler refused to speak with an Associated Press reporter Tuesday at his office.

8 children slept in cages stacked in bedrooms
Neighbors said they often saw or heard the children playing, and the family yard was littered with toys — plastic cars, tricycles, slides and an overturned skateboard near a wooden ramp. Seven bicycles were piled in a storage shed.

“Those kids were dressed better than some of the kids who live in Cleveland. They behaved like any other kids when they were outside playing,” said Jim Power, who lives across the street.

At night, authorities say, eight of the children were confined in 3½-foot-tall wooden cages stacked in bedrooms on the second floor. The cages were painted in bright, primary colors, with some rigged with alarms that would send a signal to the downstairs when a cage door was opened. One cage had a dresser in front of it, county sheriff’s Lt. Randy Sommers said Tuesday.

“The sheriff and I stood there for a few minutes and just kind of stared at what we were seeing. We were speechless,” Sommers said.

Children in foster homes
No one answered the Gravelles’ door Tuesday, and the gray, four-bedroom house was dark. A pig, roosters and other animals shared the yard outside Wakeman, a city of about 1,000 people 50 miles west of Cleveland.

The children have been placed with four foster families and were doing well, said Erich Dumbeck, director of the Huron County Department of Job and Family Services.

“We’re still trying to figure out what happened in that home. We don’t have any indication at this point that there was any abuse,” Dumbeck said.

Sommers said a social worker investigating a complaint contacted authorities. Dumbeck would not discuss the complaint.

According to the search warrant, the cages had mats and the house smelled of urine. One boy said he slept in a cage for three years, Sommers said. A baby slept in a small bed, and two girls used mattresses

Authorities called to home last year
Deputies said they were called to the home last year when a 12-year-old boy was upset and ran away for several hours. He was found not far away.

Although the family has lived in Huron County for 10 years, the children were adopted through other counties and states, Dumbeck said. He said his agency was trying to determine how the adoptions were completed.

“I don’t believe there were any caseworkers checking in with this family,” he said. Reviews are ordered only when there is a complaint.

One of the children, a boy born with HIV, was adopted as an infant in 2001 through the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, the agency’s director Jim McCafferty said. For caring for him, the Gravelles received a subsidy of at least $500 a month.

The private agencies who reviewed the couple’s home life before the adoption gave them “glowing reports,” McCafferty said.

Leah Hunter, who lives two houses away, said she often saw the children walking down the road.

“They looked OK. They hardly ever wore shoes but I’m a country girl and for me that’s normal,” she said.

psst, wrong thread.

[tequilatom]

The new thing in schools around here now ,especially 12 years and up is oral sex!!!!Thats what 6th grade or about!!!

My mother teaches sixth grade. Two years ago a girl was kicked out for being pregnant (Catholic school) in sixth grade.

She also reports hearing kids as young as fourth grade talking about dating.

When I graduated from high school (guess maybe around 15 yrs ago?), there were at the very least two dozen pregnant girls in my class of about 300. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it's pretty damned noticeable when your valedictorian is eight months pregnant and giving a speech when the rulebook clearly stated expulsion for pregnancy. (sorry for that rant. Still to this day makes me mad).

When i was a freshman in HS our school lead the state per capita in pregnancy's

[Ilph]

The new thing in schools around here now ,especially 12 years and up is oral sex!!!!Thats what 6th grade or about!!!

And there's a whole underground culture with it. Something to do with the rubber bracelets. As teachers, we're supposed to watch out for kids who wear too many of the rubber bracelets, especially girls. I don't know the whole thing, but if a boy gives a girl a certain color bracelet and she accepts, she has to perform a certain level of sexual activity with him. I work in a school that is just 3 - 5 grade and we have to worry about this (though mostly at the fifth grade level, but still!)

[tequilatom]

The new thing in schools around here now ,especially 12 years and up is oral sex!!!!Thats what 6th grade or about!!!

And there's a whole underground culture with it. Something to do with the rubber bracelets. As teachers, we're supposed to watch out for kids who wear too many of the rubber bracelets, especially girls. I don't know the whole thing, but if a boy gives a girl a certain color bracelet and she accepts, she has to perform a certain level of sexual activity with him. I work in a school that is just 3 - 5 grade and we have to worry about this (though mostly at the fifth grade level, but still!)

haven't heard that one yet from friends of mine that are teachers and principals. 5TH grade?