Michael LacyThe creep accused of getting an 11-year-old pregnant wants a court to believe he thought it was his wife the whole time.

And if you don't think this story could get worse -- or more bizarre -- just wait.

The girl was a friend of Michael Lacy's daughter. She was in the house for a sleepover.

West Virginia TV station WSAZ says 36-year-old Lacy -- whose dental hygiene leaves something to be desired by the looks of him -- told police he'd taken Lortab and Xanax the night of the sleepover.

Then he tells the cops he woke up to someone kissing his neck, and figuring it was his wife, he kissed back. Of course he doesn't remember anything else here -- he took all those painkillers.

The girl -- who was a virgin at the time -- is now nine weeks pregnant, and Lacy is facing sexual assault charges.

The horror of the story leads to a host of questions, from where was the mother at this time? Who takes serious narcotics when they're supposed to be in charge of a group of pre-teens? And how did an 11-year-old become pregnant?

Four years ago Britain announced its first official "youngest mother" was a girl who was the same age -- 11.

The world's youngest ever seems to be a 5-year-old Peruvian girl.

Now with puberty striking kids as young as 4 -- and more and more of them -- these sad stories are becoming more common according to researchers.

Girls are being compelled to act the age they look rather than the age they are, and they're often coerced into sexually mature relationships that don't meet their emotional age. Whether it's by a boy their own age closer to their age or an adult, they're being victimized.

Add to it the fact that the presence of a menstrual cycle enables the body to become pregnant, and it's compounding the tragedy of sexual assault with the stigma of being pregnant at such a young age.

 

Image via WSAZ