Feb 25, 2008 11:24 am US/Pacific
Calif. Woman Guilty In Child Sexual Abuse Case
SACRAMENTO (AP) ―
Irene Hunt, the common-law wife of a self-styled religious leader, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for transporting her 7-year-old son to have sex with an adult.
Hunt's common-law husband, 60-year-old Allen Harrod of Sacramento, was found guilty earlier this month of transporting minors for sexual activity.
He was accused of engaging in ritualistic sex acts with children from two families for more than a decade as part of a religion he claimed to have started. One of his followers, 48-year-old Michael Labrecque, also was previously convicted.
Hunt, 53, already was in state prison, serving 20 years and eight months on child sex abuse charges. She then pleaded guilty to additional charges of transporting her son to Texas to have sex with another of Harrod's followers, Juliette Labrecque, who was then 33.
Hunt agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testified against Harrod and Labrecque. U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb ordered her sentence to run concurrently with the remaining 14 years she has yet to serve on the state prison sentence.
Jurors deadlocked on charges against Labrecque, leading Shubb to declare a mistrial in her case.
The crimes stemmed from a religion that was created by Harrod and that encouraged sex with children to promote their maturation. Shubb said the professed religion was nothing more than a rationale for child sexual abuse.
Harrod is serving two life terms plus 62 years in California state prison on multiple molestation charges. He and Michael Labrecque are scheduled to be sentenced April 21 on the federal charges. They face up to life in prison.
Prosecutors said the crimes were committed between 1991 and 2002.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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