Mum Who Married Her Own Daughter Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison for Incest
An Oklahoma woman who married her married her biological daughter has been sentenced to two years in prison on incest charges.
Patricia Ann Spann, 45, pleaded guilty to the felony offense and admitted she married her biological daughter, 26-year-old Misty Velvet Dawn Spann. She will spend two years in prison. She also received to eight years of probation and a $1,500 fine.
She also must register as a sex offender after her release from prison.
The two women married in March 2016 in front of at least two witnesses. Patricia had previously lost custody of Misty, but they reunited in 2014. “We hit it off,” Spann told investigators, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.
The marriage was discovered in August 2016 when authorities investigated a child welfare complaint, according to police.
A judge annulled the marriage in October 2017, ruling that “the mother had induced her daughter by fraud to enter the marriage.” Both women were arrested and charged with violating incest laws. Misty was sentenced to 10 years of probation in November. That plea was later withdrawn when it was determined she had been given a deferred sentence, which is not allowed under state law. She is expected to enter a new plea next week.
The shocking case got another twist last year when authorities revealed that Patricia had previously been married to her son. That marriage was annulled after the son claimed incest.
Patricia told investigators she did not have a sexual relationship with her son, and that the marriage occurred so he wouldn’t be “deployed with the military. She says she married her daughter in hopes of adopting a child,” the affidavit states.
According to investigators, Patricia told officials she had “looked into it” and didn’t think she was breaking any laws by marrying her daughter.
She claimed she thought she could legally marry Misty because her name is no longer listed on her daughter’s birth certificate.
Under Oklahoma law, marrying a close relative is considered incest whether the relationship is sexual or not.
One of Patricia’s sons, Cody Spann, previously told PEOPLE that his mother is an alleged “predator” who “forced” his brother and sister to marry her – and threatened to kill them if they did not comply.
“I think she’s just a sick, twisted individual that has something messed up in her head,” Cody, 25, told PEOPLE last September. “Why would you want to be with one of your own kids?”
Spann’s lawyer did not return PEOPLE’s call for comment.
This article originally appeared on PEOPLE
