Officials have accepted the plea of a 43-year-old illegal immigrant on charges that he sexually assaulted a ten-year-old girl in 2014.
Franklin County, Alabama court officials said Pedro Ramirez Rocha of Russellville pleaded guilty to second-degree assault.
Rocha was indicted last September on four counts of sexual abuse of a child under 12 after the girl’s family came forward.
Authorities said that the plea deal was approved with the agreement of the child’s parents, who hoped to avoid a lengthy trial. The parents said that they wanted to avoid further trauma to their little girl, now 11.
“They were concerned about the stress the case would put on their child,” Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said. “But they were ready to go forward if (Rocha) had not entered the guilty plea.”
Rocha will serve five years in prison, then be deported, prosecutors said.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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