Lisa Marchesoni
Posted: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 2:59 pm

Amanda Abdo

Another arrest was made in a plot to ensure a mother gained custody of her children, a sheriff’s detective said Wednesday.

Mother Chasity Helms, 30, of Scenic Drive, was charged last week with tampering with food and filing a false police report after an investigation by Detective Jim Tramel.

Helms and a friend apparently plotted to drug husband Torrance Helms’ mashed potatoes, causing him to pass out, Tramel said. Once he passed out, the friend was going to pose with him while the wife took photographs.

Chasity Helms’ friend, Amanda Abdo, 28, of Natchez Court in La Vergne, was charged with filing a false report.

Tramel accused Abdo of assaulting Helms to make it appear the husband assaulted her.

Abdo was also going to pose in photographs with the husband after he passed out, the detective said.

“She (Chasity Helms) was afraid she was going to lose custody of her kids,” Tramel said. “In her mind, the only way was to get him in photographs so she could show them in court. It wasn’t meant to kill him.”

Torrance N. Helms, 30, didn’t buy into the plot and didn’t eat the potatoes.

Both Chasity Helms and Abdo were scheduled to answer the charges Dec. 2 in General Sessions Court.