Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has joined an exclusive club of Arizona officials whose spouses are convicted child molesters.
The club has at least one other member: Former Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock.
On Friday, Peters' husband, Terryl "Terry" Gene Peters Sr., 67, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for raping a 7-year-old girl.
The girl told her mother in 2012 that Peters had raped her several times in 2008. Peters admitted to the sexual activity when the mother confronted him in a recorded phone call. He'll be 81 and on lifetime probation when he gets out, assuming he makes it that far.
His wife, Mary, was a former director of the Arizona Department of Transportation, a potential gubernatorial candidate in 2006, and the Transportation Secretary appointed by George W. Bush from 2006 to January of 2009.
Mary Peters and Fulton Brock, an East Valley county supervisor from 1996 to 2012, could form a small therapy group.
Brock's ex-wife, Susan Brock, pleaded guilty in 2011 and was sentenced to 13 years in prison following her twisted affair with a 14-year-old boy. Brock's adult daughter, Rachel, was later convicted for having sex with the same boy when he was 13 and she was 18; she was sentenced to 10 years' probation.
Fulton Brock announced in early 2012 that he would not seek reelection. He filed for divorce soon after Susan's arrest, and their marriage ended officially a few months after her prison sentence began.
Mary Peters, who now runs a consulting firm, is apparently sticking by her man -- no divorce proceeding seems to be in the works, judging by county records.
