A man convicted on child molestation charges has been ordered to spend the rest of his life behind bars, officials say.
Manuel Ponce Dominguez, 42, was sentenced Tuesday to serve three consecutive life sentences plus 45 years in prison. Dominguez was convicted Monday on 19 counts, which included aggravated child molestation, child molestation, cruelty to children and invasion of privacy, after a six-day trial.
Cobb County authorities said they discovered the case after one of the victims told a family friend, who reported it to police. The youngest victim never told anyone of the abuse, but prosecutors proved those counts based on admissions the defendant made to police.
A statement released by Kim Isaza, a spokesperson for the Cobb County district attorney, said an investigation uncovered that Dominguez repeatedly sodomized and molested one girl for 12 years, beginning when she was 5 years old.
Dominguez later continued to sexually abuse at least two other girls, Isaza said in the statement. The attacks occurred in his residences, including a home on Park Street in the city of Marietta, the statement also said.
“All their lives, these girls have been used and taken advantage of. They have had their innocence, their childhoods and their dignity stolen,” Assistant District Attorney Hannah Palmquist told the court during the sentencing hearing Tuesday. “For once in their lives, these girls need to be told that they matter. We are asking this court to tell them with this sentence how much they matter.”
Before handing down Dominguez’s sentence Tuesday morning, Cobb Superior Court Judge Stephen Schuster admonished Dominguez for his actions saying he put the girls “in a state of constant fear.”
“You forced their silence for over a decade,” Schuster said.
Dominguez, a native of Mexico, has been held without bond since his arrest in July 2014. Immigrations and customs enforcement officials said Dominguez will likely be deported if he is ever released from prison.
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