Man Weds 14-Year-Old, Faces Charges

Sept. 13, 2005 -- -- In May, Matthew Koso married his girlfriend, Crystal, who was pregnant with their child. But the new father and husband may soon be separated from his family and sent to prison. His crime? Koso is 22; Crystal is 14.

Koso is charged with first-degree sexual assault in his home state of Nebraska and faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted. The couple married in Kansas, where the wedding was legal, with their parents' blessing.

"I'm so scared that I am going to lose both of them, and I don't want to," Matthew Koso said through tears. "Right now there isn't anything that I love more than my wife and my daughter."

Matthew first met Crystal through her half-brother when she was 8, and they began dating in the fall of 2003 when he was 20 and she was 12.

Crystal's mother, Cecilia Guyer, filed a restraining order against Matthew Koso on Sept. 17, 2004.

"He needs to hang around girls and boys his own age group," Guyer wrote in the complaint. "He needs to seek counseling. He has a history of the same, similar with other young girls, and he needs to be stopped here and now."

Matthew and Crystal continued to see each other, and Crystal became pregnant. The couple hid the pregnancy until Guyer discovered Crystal's stretch marks during a shopping trip, according to The New York Times.

"At that time, our options were limited," Matthew's mother, Peggy Koso, said today on "Good Morning America." "It was either abortion, which was well past due; adoption, which was out of the question; and then it was to marry her, which we thought was the right thing to do."

Matthew and Crystal were married on May 3, in Kansas, one of the few states that allows children as young as 12 to marry with parental consent. Guyer filed to revoke the restraining order on May 5, 2005, citing her reason as, "Matthew and Crystal Guyer are married now."

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning learned about the relationship from several residents of Falls City, Neb., the couple's hometown, in July, and charged Matthew Koso with first-degree sexual assault.