Splendora man facing sex assault charges in Liberty, Montgomery counties

Mark Wayne Shorten, 62, of Splendora, is no stranger to the news. Shorten, publisher of a now-defunct newspaper in East Montgomery County, is accused of sexually assaulting a female child on multiple occasions, starting when she was 9 years old and stopping only when she recently made an outcry to law enforcement as a young adult.

Shorten was arrested on July 26, 2023, and is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on one count of Sexual Assault, a second-degree felony, and one count of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child, Victim Under the Age of 14, a first-degree felony.

Bonds for each charge in Montgomery County have been set at $250,000. He additionally is facing a charge of Sexual Assault in Liberty County that has a bond set at $1 million.

In court documents filed in Montgomery County, Shorten is accused of telling his victim that the assaults were “rape protection,” so she would know how to handle herself if she was raped. He physically assaulted her when she tried to resist and threatened to shoot her, pointing a pistol in her face on one occasion, the documents state.

In 2012, Shorten and his wife were investigated by authorities after their children were discovered living alone in an abandoned school bus while they were serving time in prison for federal wire fraud charges.

“The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Special Victim’s Unit has worked tirelessly in conjunction with other local agencies to bring this investigation to a successful arrest conclusion with the hopes of being able to provide healing and closure to the victim and their family,” according to a statement from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

As this is still an ongoing investigation, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is uncertain if there are other victims of Shorten. If anyone has information about other potential victims or any alleged criminal activities of Mark Shorten, please call the MCSO at 936-7760-5800, option 3, or the Multi-County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-392-STOP (7867) and reference case number 22A238124.