Woman who married teen prefers older men

updated 9:37 a.m. ET Dec. 13, 2005

ATLANTA - A 37-year-old woman who is seven months pregnant by her 15-year-old groom says she prefers older men, but the teenager aggressively wooed her.

Lisa Clark, who is charged with child molestation, statutory rape and enticing a child for indecent purposes, said in television interviews Monday that she still hopes to make a life with him and their baby.

She said the morality of their relationship was open to debate, noting that in the past it was common for 13-year-old girls to be given in marriage.

“They’re making a big deal out of a 15-year-old,” she told WAGA-TV in Atlanta. “And I can assure you that he was no victim.

“It’s not like they are making it out to be. Actually, I’d told him ’no’ several times because I prefer someone older, but he was just so nice and so sweet,” she said.

Teen in juvenile detention
The boy, who had been on probation on an unrelated burglary charge, was ordered Monday to return to juvenile detention after relatives he was living with said they could not handle him.

Clark was arrested last month after the couple’s Nov. 8 wedding. Georgia law allows children of any age to marry — without parental consent — if the bride-to-be is pregnant. The law dates to the early 1960s and was written to discourage out-of-wedlock births.

Clark denied marrying the teen to try to avoid prosecution.

“I told the detective that I got married because I wanted the baby to have his name. I wanted to be married when the baby came,” she said.

Clark said the baby is a boy and would have the middle name of her new husband, who has not been identified by authorities because of his age.

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