Rape an Eight Year-Old Girl, Get 15 Years?

 

The little Franklin County girl was in physical pain and didn't know what to do. When she went to her school guidance counselor for help, it took only a few questions for the school official to determine that the eight year-old had been raped.

It also didn't take long to determine that the mother's live-in boyfriend had assaulted the young child. At the time of the crime, Pedro Juarez Gomez, also known as Tomas Castro, was 23 years old. Authorities quickly arrested Gomez for First Degree Rape and First Degree Sodomy. The mother who had tried to cover up her boyfriend's crime was arrested for child abuse.

After more than four years, Gomez finally accepted a plea deal in which he received ten years for the child-rape and five years for an escape attempt. The sexual abuser is to serve the two sentences consecutively. He's currently in the Draper Intake Unit awaiting placement in the state prison system.

Besides the confusion about Gomez' name, there is also doubt about his age. If his age at arrest was indeed 23, he would now be a least 27, but is listed as 24 by the Alabama Department of Corrections. It's a good guess that Gomez has led quite a life of dissembling and covering up past crimes both south of the border and in the U.S.

Gomez' young victim is now 12 or 13 and in a foster home. Yes, her attacker is in prison, but does anyone really think she received justice?