MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – A Montgomery County man is accused of repeatedly raping a woman over several years and investigators are concerned there may be more victims.
Mark Wayne Shorten, 62, was arrested Wednesday after a search and arrest warrant was served and is in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1.5 million bond, accused of continuous sexual abuse of a child and two counts of sexual assault.
The sexual abuse allegedly occurred between 2009 until 2022, according to court documents. The “lengthy and complicated” investigation started nearly a year ago.
A woman came forward last August and claimed Shorten started raping her at age 9, sometimes at gunpoint if she wouldn’t comply.
“He threatened to kill her. He threatened to harm her or her friends,” Liberty County First Assistant District Attorney Anna Emmons said. She will prosecute the case in Montgomery County. “Victims don’t come forward that often because they’re told not to and they’re told they would be harmed.”
Shorten would allegedly ask the victim “what good are you?” if she didn’t engage in the sexual acts with him, according to court documents.
The alleged abuse happened two or three times per week until the alleged victim was 22 last July, according to court documents. She told investigators it happened at Shorten’s Splendora home, his office along the East Freeway, and at a motel in Liberty County.
“It occurred prior to him going to prison and paused during that short period of time and then resumed when he came back home,” Emmons said.
The alleged sexual assaults stopped for a couple years while Shorten and his wife served federal prison sentences for embezzling government money intended for Hurricane Ike victims.
The story made national headlines in 2012, after a postal worker reported the Shortens’ young children living alone in an abandoned school bus on their property. The living conditions were described as deplorable.
CPS said at the time the kids were put in foster care but after being released from prison, the kids were eventually reunited with their parents. Shorten spoke with KPRC 2′s Amy Davis about what the ordeal taught his kids.
“They understand people make mistakes. You work the problem, don’t let it work you,” Shorten said in October 2012.
Now more than a decade later, the 62-year-old is back in jail after the woman came forward and provided investigators a pair of her underwear with DNA possibly matching his.
Investigators are concerned there may be more victims.
“We want to encourage people to come forward since he is in custody now. He has a large bond on him right now and they’re safe in coming forward at this point,” Emmons said.
MCSO advised that this is still an ongoing investigation, and it is unknown if there are any other victims. If anyone has information about other potential victims or potential criminal activities of Mark Shorten, contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 936-760-5800 option 3 or Multi-County Crime Stoppers at 1-800- 392-STOP (7867) and reference case number 22A238124.