An English woman has been charged with aggravated sexual assault on a child after the discovery that her seven-year-old daughter kept a diary in which she wrote she was forced to have sex with her mother's boyfriend.
The girl, who now lives in California with her father, also told investigators that while she lived in England, her mother allowed men she brought home to have sex with her.
Stacey Parnitzke, 40, and former boyfriend Shane Casey, 38, were arrested on Friday in Vermont. They could get life in prison if convicted. Each pleaded not guilty to the same charge.
The assaults allegedly occurred when the girl was between the ages of 7 and 9, according to court documents.
"With these cases, when they deal with children, you have the truest definition of a victim. This child could not have fought back. She was unable to do so. She was totally at the mercy of these two individuals," Vermont State Police Detective Lance Burnham said.
A lawyer for Parnitzke and Casey did not return a call on Tuesday seeking comment.
Burnham said Parnitzke was born in England but was a permanent resident of the US. Parnitzke and her daughter moved to Vermont in 2004, but Parnitzke sent the girl to live with her father in 2006.
The father went to police in October after the 11-year-old girl told him that while living in England, Parnitzke would bring men home from Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and let them rape her starting when she was 5.
Investigators in California contacted Vermont authorities because the girl said Casey sexually assaulted her repeatedly.
Burnham said he had been in contact with the authorities in Pontefract, England, about 241km north of London, but there was not enough evidence to begin a criminal investigation there.
The girl also told investigators her mother sexually assaulted her, the documents said.
More charges are possible against Parnitzke and Casey, Burnham said.
Burnham said investigators retrieved the girl's diary from storage in Vermont and had corroborated many of the things she wrote and spoke of.
"If you read the affidavit, you will read how she explains certain elements of the crime," Burnham said. "She is very credible. We have no reason not to believe her. We were able to confirm certain dates that she spoke of."
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