A 58-year-old Marietta man was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for repeatedly raping a young girl.
Mario Esteban Sanchez was sentenced on charges of rape and child molestation Friday afternoon, according to a Cobb County district attorney’s spokeswoman.
He is the second person sentenced in separate cases for abusing the girl.
Sanchez began raping the child, whom he was related to by marriage, at his Franklin Road apartment when she was 5 years old, prosecutors said. The assaults occurred over four years, according to a warrant. The victim is now a preteen.
“To pick your gratification over the damage being done to that little girl is inhumane, heartless ... beyond that, it is soulless. Ideally, you’ve lived your last free day,” Judge Henry Thompson told Sanchez, according to prosecutors.
Sanchez has been in Cobb jail more than two years since his arrest during the first few days of 2015, jail records show.
Georgia Department of Corrections
Georgia Department of Corrections
In January, a family friend was also sentenced for sexually assaulting the same girl.
Marcio Rogelio Cartagena attacked the child when she was four years old, a district attorney’s office spokeswoman said.
Prosecutors believe the men were raping her independently of each other.
The girl told a cousin about the abuses when she was a few years older, the agency said.
Cartagena was sentenced life, with 18 years to serve in prison.
The state’s prison database shows that Cartagena, the 33-year-old Marietta man, is currently being housed at Washington State Prison in Davisboro.
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