Woman, 22, given two life sentences for allowing professor, 49, to have sex with her five-month-old daughter.
Tessa L. Vanvlerah met professor online when they swapped child porn. She allowed him to come to her house on several occasions to have sex with both her and her baby. He was sentenced to 37 years in jail.
Tessa L. Vanvlerah, 22, from St Louis, was charged with first-degree statutory rape and sodomy, as well as incest and child pornography.
Her attorneys failed to convince a judge that she should get probation because she suffers from a psychological disorder.
Jailed: Mother Tessa Vanvlerah, right, allowed Kenneth Kyle, left, to rape her five-month-old daughter on several different occasions
Home: Tessa Vanvlerah, of the 200 block of Solon Drive in Ballwin, pictured, would invite Kyle to the home to have sex with her daughter when she was five-months-old
Dr Brooke Kraushaar said a dependent-personality disorder caused Vanvlerah to participate in the sexual fantasies of Kenneth M. Kyle, 49, a college professor from California, even though she knew sex acts involving her then-five-month-old daughter were wrong.
Kyle was sentenced to 37-and-a-half years in prison in March after pleading guilty of abusing the infant during several occasions in 2009, according to St Louis Today.
Along with hundreds of child porn images on Kyle”s computers, investigators found information that led them to the St Louis area, where Kyle had visited Vanvlerah four times in five months since meeting online.
During those visits, prosecutors say the pair had sex with the girl and each other at various hotels.
Dr Kraushaar also told the court that the 22-year-old was so afraid of being rejected by others that she also allowed Kyle to choke, burn and urinate on her.
But prosecutors said Vanvlerah exercised free will when she started communicating online with Kyle and sharing child pornography. She also carved his name into her arm at his request but refused when he suggested bestiality.
They also said she spoke with another man who sent her child pornography and invited him to also come and have sex with her infant daughter.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kathi Alizadeh also pointed out that Vanvlerah willingly posed for pictures with Kyle and her daughter.
St Louis today also reported that a woman obtained an order of protection in 2008 against Vanvlerah, then 18, accusing her of seducing and having sex with the woman’s 16-year-old autistic son.
The autistic boy is believed to be the father of the infant in the case.
The infant, who is now three years old, was placed with a foster mother who has since adopted her.
She read out a victim’s impact statement saying the child would scream when anyone bathed her or changed her diaper.
Even now she has night terrors and asks every night to make sure no one comes into the home.
The woman, in tears, said the girl was getting better day by day now that she “is no longer Tessa’s plaything and she is no longer Tessa’s child”.
Serves her right.