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PROVO, Utah (AP) -- A Provo woman who had been accused along with her husband of severely abusing two of their children has pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges.
Shelly Ann Huynh, 35, of Provo agreed to the plea bargain in 4th District Court on Wednesday and was sentenced to one year each on two counts of child physical abuse plus a year for parole violation. The sentences are concurrent to the two terms of zero to five years in prison that she is serving for unrelated crimes.
Huynh and her ex-husband Chay Huynh, 46, were accused of severely abusing and neglecting two of their seven children. The man pleaded guilty to the same misdemeanor counts of child physical abuse, and was released because of the two years he had spent in jail awaiting the outcome of the charges.
Authorities had alleged the boys were punished by twisting their genitals with pliers, yanking healthy teeth from their mouths, locking them in the basement without food or water and forcing them to perform sex acts. All seven children are in foster care.
Deputy Utah County Attorney Mariane O'Bryant said that although the sentence imposed by Judge Claudia Laycock did not add additional time to Shelly Huynh's prison term, it does gives the Board of Pardons more information when considering her parole.
"It gives the opportunity to the kids to have the Board of Pardons know their story," O'Bryant said.
She said the likelihood of getting felony convictions had been jeopardized by the passage of time.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
