Mark Wayne Shorten, 63, of Splendora, was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child Under the Age of 14, a first-degree felony, in a trial that concluded Friday, Oct. 25, in the 435th State District Court in Montgomery County, the Honorable Patty Maginnis presiding.
The Liberty County District Attorney’s Office, represented by First Assistant District Attorney Anna Emmons and Assistant District Attorney Nicole Washington, was assigned to prosecute the case after the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office recused itself. The Honorable Robert Trapp, presiding judge of the Second Administrative Judicial Region of Texas, made the appointment for this trial.
Shorten, who was previously a publisher of the now-defunct East Montgomery County Gazette, was sentenced to life in prison after the jury deliberated just one hour in the guilt-innocence phase of the trial and only five minutes in the sentencing phase.
Shorten is no stranger to making headlines. In 2012, he and his wife, Sherrie, gained national attention when it was discovered that their children were living alone in an abandoned school bus on their Splendora property while the parents served prison time for federal wire fraud. The children were living in deplorable conditions, leading to intervention by Children’s Protective Services. The children were temporarily removed from their parents’ custody but were eventually reunited.
Now, 11 years later, Shorten has been convicted of the continuous abuse of one of his two daughters. The abuse of the girl began at age 9 and continued until adulthood. According to court documents filed in Montgomery County, Shorten told his victim that the sexual assaults were intended as “rape protection,” allegedly to prepare her if she was ever raped. When she resisted, he reportedly physically assaulted her and even threatened to shoot her, once pointing a pistol in her face. Another victim testified that Shorten would lock her inside a converted storage building and would sexually assault her when he visited.
Shorten still faces an additional Sexual Assault charge pending in Liberty County related to an incident believed to have taken place at a Cleveland motel.
The life sentence means that Shorten will not be eligible for parole and will have to serve every day of his life sentence.
ROT IN HELL !!!!
Like wtf the person that new of this should be charged his wife should be charged and cps should hold responseability for returning the victim to the abuser.. that’s sick..