Lisa Marchesoni
Posted: Friday, October 23, 2009 4:11 pm

Fear of losing her children prompted a wife to allegedly alter her husband’s food and plot to place him in a compromising position, sheriff’s officers reported.

Wife Chasity D. Helms, 30, of Scenic Drive was charged 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 the husband’s food, causing him to pass out, Tramel said. Once he passed out, the friend was going to pose with him while the wife took photographs.

“She 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.”

But husband Torrance N. Helms, 30, didn’t buy into the plot.

Deputy Roscoe Sanders, who filed the original report Oct. 12, stated the husband and wife argued about mutual infidelities. He became suspicious when his wife prepared a meal for him.

“Mr. Helms stated that the mashed potatoes and diet Mountain Dew had an extremely harsh taste,” Sanders reported. “Mrs. Helms asked him if anything was wrong with the food.”

She offered to make her another plate. During the evening, he became ill and sought treatment at Middle Tennessee Medical Center. He obtained a blood test.

A witness obtained the plate of mashed potatoes. Sanders took a sample as evidence.

Tramel said he interviewed Mrs. Helms Thursday.

After her husband didn’t eat the food, she and her friend discussed hitting him with a frying pan but discarded that idea.

“When that failed, the friend made it look like he (her husband) had assaulted her,” Tramel said. “The friend slapped her neck and made it look like he had tried to choke her.”

After the interview, Tramel charged Chasity Helms with filing a false police report for the fake assault and altering the food. She was booked into Rutherford County Adult Detention Center. Her hearing is set Dec. 2 in General Sessions Court.