"Where are here for a...a..Ms. Armstrong? Hmmm. Oh well, is she around?"
Posted on 08/04/2004 1:15:53 PM PDT by raccoonradio
SALEM, Mass. -- A Beverly (MA) mother is facing charges that she prostituted her 9-year-old daughter in exchange for cocaine, after police showed up at a Salem apartment Monday night looking for child pornography and found a man abusing the girl.
In a case a prosecutor said "speaks to the most horrific things you can imagine," Mary Jean Armstrong, 35, of 9 Mill St., is accused of allowing two Salem men to sexually abuse her daughter. Armstrong is now facing multiple felony counts of inducing a child to prostitution, disseminating obscene material involving a child, and indecent assault and battery on a child. She is also charged with forcible child rape, because police believe she is responsible for the crime even though she did not physically assault her daughter.
Richard Lapham, 37, is also facing multiple counts of forcible child rape, as well as disseminating obscene materials, posing or exhibiting a child in a state of nudity, indecent assault and battery, and possession of cocaine and marijuana.
Late yesterday, detectives arrested another Salem man in connection with the sexual abuse case. Robert L'Italien, 36, of 17 Forest Ave., first floor, was charged with rape of a child. Police said L'Italien is a friend of Lapham's and that on at least one occasion, he raped the young girl with Armstrong's knowledge.
Armstrong, Lapham and L'Italien could face life in prison if convicted.
Police began investigating last weekend after an informant turned over a photo of Lapham and the girl engaged in a sexual act.
Monday night, detectives obtained a search warrant for Lapham's apartment at 5 Lussier St., near Salem State College. When they showed up to conduct their search, "Lapham was in the process of raping this child as detectives knocked on the door," according to a report written by Detective Lt. Thomas Griffin.
Inside the third-floor apartment, Lapham was in his underwear and the girl was lying naked on a couch. A pornographic movie was playing on a television, police said in their report.
Armstrong, meanwhile, was across the room, using cocaine, police said. Confronted by the detectives, Armstrong allegedly told them she was getting the girl ready for a bath.
Months of abuse
But police believe that numerous times over the past year, Armstrong brought the girl to Lapham's apartment, where he raped and took pornographic photos of the young girl. According to court papers the incidents started last January.
Further charges may be pending in the case and the investigation remains open, Detective Sgt. Stephen Bona said yesterday.
Armstrong's son, a 13-year-old boy with autism, was also in the apartment Monday night, but it is unclear to police whether he was abused.
The girl was taken to North Shore Children's Hospital for treatment Monday night, detectives said. She and her brother will be in the custody of the Department of Social Services indefinitely. Bona, a lead investigator, said DSS will get immediate counseling for the girl.
Both Armstrong and Lapham pleaded not guilty yesterday in Salem District Court.
Lapham covered his face with a suit jacket provided by his court-appointed attorney yesterday as he appeared in court. Armstrong also tried to shield her face, at one point quietly asking a court officer, "Can I have something, too?"
First Assistant District Attorney John Dawley filed motions seeking to have both held without bail as a danger to the community and to the girl. A hearing on that request was scheduled for next Tuesday. Meanwhile, both will remain in custody, Armstrong at the state's prison for women in Framingham and Lapham at Middleton Jail.
Because lawyers for both Armstrong and Lapham agreed not to contest whether Dawley had probable cause to file the dangerousness motion, Judge Dennis Healey shut off the prosecutor as he tried to offer details of the case in court.
Lawyers for both Armstrong and Lapham acknowledged that the charges against their clients were serious.
After the hearing, Armstrong's lawyer, Emery Haskell, described his client as upset.
Ben McGowan, a lawyer appointed to represent Lapham yesterday, said, "It's entirely too early for anyone to start making assumptions about what did or did not happen. He's only just been charged, and we expect the facts to come to light at trial."
L'Italien, who was arrested late Tuesday afternoon, will be arraigned in Salem District Court today.
'Very alarming'
"It's a very disturbing case," said Bona, who led the investigation with Detective Thomas Brennan. "It's affected all of us. Anyone with kids is affected by something like this."'
Prosecutor Dawley echoed that, saying, "The facts, when they come out, are very disturbing, very alarming. It speaks to the most horrific things you can imagine."
What kind of a monster could let this happen to their own flesh and blood, much less initiate it. Nothing enslaves like an addiction.
”Guns Before Butter.”
Massachussetts? How could the Senator let this happen? (sarc)
...kinda makes you want to puke! Hang them, by the scrotum!
"Armstrong also tried to shield her face, at one point quietly asking a court officer, 'Can I have something, too?' "
Yeah, you can have something, too, you f***ing b****.
You can have spending the rest of your miserable f***ing life in prison.
I'm sorry about the language. I don't usually talk that way, but I'm so angry I could rip this POS's head off.
I hope they are both dealt with by fellow prisoners before they can even make it to trial. And I hope they make it very painful.
No words....
That staement caught me to, and I feel the same as you.
Both should be chain whipped then publically hung.
Do it the old English way, let them hang till their bodies rot.
These individuals do not even deserve to be hung with a new rope.
OOO, Let's legalize drugs!
I just keep thinking of that little girl, pleading with her "mother" not to let those men hurt her. I feel ill.
Same here.
If you have little ones, especially a daughter, go find them, and hug them.
I just did.
It helps, FRiend.
This city (Salem, MA) is famous for hanging and "pressing"
(but not burning) people accused of being witches, back in 1692. But people like these are the real evil ones.
Armstrong, Lapham and L'Italien could face life in prison if convicted.
Let's see how the liberals in Massachussetts handle this one. I bet at least one of its judges will rule that these people have the right to freedom of expression. Sick but a possiblity.
I went and hugged my daughter and told her how much I loved her. I got teary, and now she's worried that something is wrong with me. :-)
Though I don't want to spare the mother any of the public hostility she's got coming, printing her full name and address is as good as printing the poor little girl's name. Nine years old is plenty old enough to be sensitive about your friends knowing stuff like this about you. The newspaper's editor should know better than this.
"Where are here for a...a..Ms. Armstrong? Hmmm. Oh well, is she around?"
Why on earth did I go and click on this?
(Shakes head, walks away.)
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