Top > World > 2005 > November > 2005-11-16

Woman marries fifteen year old in GA

37-year-old Georgia woman was charged with child molestation after marrying a 15-year-old boy last week. Lynette Clark was arrested Wednesday and brought to the Hall County Detention Center. Dawson County probate officials confirmed the marriage took place but declined to provide additional comment. Gainesville, about 50-miles northeast of Atlanta, is the seat of Hall County. Dawson is an adjoining county.

Judy Hayles, the boy?s grandmother, says she received a notice of the marriage from Dawson County because she is the boy?s guardian. Hayles says the relationship had been going on for nearly two years. She says her grandson and Clark?s teenage son had been close friends and that the grandson spent many weekends at Clark?s home.

Reportedly, Clark is pregnant with the boy?s child and that they were married Tuesday. Now Hayles says she is working to end the marriage. Georgia law provides an exemption to age requirements for marriage if the couple have a child or the female can show she is pregnant. In Georgia, one must be 18 to marry without parental consent or 16 to marry with parental consent.