She married a rapist serving a 20-year prison sentence – ‘Love can bloom anywhere’

She is married to a man who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for rape. The reason for this is a 31-year-old British woman, Gemma Morgan, who was united in marriage with 31-year-old American Leonel Vasquez inside a Virginia prison on December 29, less than two years after they started exchanging messages online.

“I still get butterflies in my stomach every time he calls or his name comes up in a text,” the Scotland-based woman told South West News Service of her jailed husband, who has been incarcerated since 2011.

“Love can bloom anywhere,” she continued, to argue that she doesn’t care about his conviction as she is “not married to his past.”

The pair first came into contact in early 2021 when Morgan began taking online Spanish lessons with a woman in the US. She told her at one point that she had a son the same age as Morgan, who is in prison. After learning that they shared interests, she decided to send him a message.

“We connected immediately and have the same sense of humor. We both love 90s music and have the same favorite movies.”

After several months of texting, his relationship went to the next level, the phone conversation. During one of them, she asked him about his rape conviction. “I asked him to tell me the whole story over the phone. It was very important to me,” she said, adding that she was reassured by the fact that she had spoken to him about it.

“He was very very young when it happened. Moreover, he has done so much in prison to improve himself,” he stressed.

Morgan finally traveled to the US last year in April and met Vasquez in person in prison.

For him, it was love at first sight, he says. “I knew I had found my future wife. I wanted someone to really love me for who I am. But I was thinking: Why would anyone want me.”

Three months after the first visit, the proposal came marriageover the phone, and the plans began.

They were finally married last month, with the only witnesses being the two correctional officers on the prison grounds. But they were allowed to kiss, hug and hold hands, while they had their first dance even without music.

The couple says both families support the union and hope the husband will be released in 4 years because of his good behavior in prison.


Source: News Beast

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