She didn’t want him to cheat — so they assaulted 2 underage family members instead, Texas police say
It was a preacher’s sermon that convinced the girl she needed to come forward with the story of the sexual abuse that had been allowed to fester within her family.
The alleged abuse began in August 2015 in Lubbock, Texas, but now that girl and another family member, who are not being identified because they were minors at the time and are possible sexual assault victims, have put at least one of their abusers away.
Shara Lynn Parhams, 42, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for the sexual assault of a teenage family member, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
The victim was staying with Parhams, and her husband, Carl, 50, for the weekend as part of a visitation agreement, according to an arrest warrant, cited by KLBK. The teenage relative asked if she could drink wine during the visit, but they ended up drinking vodka and whiskey.
While the girl was intoxicated, according to the arrest warrant, Carl Parhams pulled down her shorts while Shara fondled the girl’s breasts.
During subsequent visits, Shara Parhams insisted that it was “okay” to let Carl perform oral sex on the girl, according to KCBD. During one of the visits, she woke up the next morning to Carl Parham sexually assaulting her, the station reported. The couple then drove the girl to church.
The girl and another underage family member who alleged abuse at the hands of the Parhams went to Lubbock Police in March 2017. KCBD reported that the girls got Shara to admit to the sexual abuse while one of the victims recorded the conversation. During the recorded conversation, Shara told the victim that she knew Carl would cheat on her, so she wanted him to get it out of his system. She claimed she could trust the two girls she brought into their bedroom because they were family members, and, therefore, posed less of a threat to Shara.
Carl Parhams has not been tried yet in the case, but faces charges of sexual assault of a child and sexual assault by bigamy, according to Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office records. The bigamy charge is included in both Shara and Carl’s list of charges because the victims were not people that could have legally wed the alleged abusers, according to the Avalanche-Journal.
This story was originally published February 21, 2018 at 5:53 PM with the headline "She didn’t want him to cheat — so they assaulted 2 underage family members instead, Texas police say."