A Richmond minor was illegally married last year, and the arrangement may have been against her will

Three-year-old Sunam is dressed in a bridal outfit in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 14, 2007. Sunam cannot talk yet, but her father Parvez agreed to engage his young daughter to her cousin Nieem, 7, because his sister, Fahima, Nieem's mother, did not have a daughter and desperately wanted one. (AP Photo/Farzana Wahidy)

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A mother in Fort Bend County is accused of allowing a 47-year-old man to marry her 14-year-old daughter.

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The “marriage” occurred in Richmond, Tex., a city outside of Houston.

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According to reports, Child Protective Services (CPS) received a call from a doctor alleging the girl said she was married and sexually active. The “marriage” occurred when the girl was just 13-years-old.

CPS informed the Fort Bend Sheriff’s Office of the potential long-term sexual assault on June 5. Authorities launched an investigation that is still ongoing.

The mother, Cherry Jamila Payton, 39,  and the teen’s “husband” Steven Carty, 47, have both been arrested.

Payton is charged with endangering a child by criminal negligence. Carty is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Both are currently in jail until they make bond, which are set at $10,000 and $100,000, respectively.

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In Texas, the youngest a teen can legally marry is 16, and that’s only if the teen is emancipated.

 

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