FAYETTEVILLE — A Springdale man who repeatedly raped a 12-year-old girl will be behind bars for at least the next 45 years.
A Washington County Circuit Court jury convicted Gerardo Gomez-Jimenez of three counts of rape Wednesday evening. The jury took just more than 30 minutes Thursday morning to decide on three 32-year prison sentences.
Gomez-Jimenez faced a minimum of 25 years, because the girl was younger than 14, and a maximum of life in prison.
Circuit Judge William Storey ordered the sentences from two counts to run concurrently and consecutively with the third count for a total of 64 years.
“What you did, Mr. Gomez-Jimenez, to this child was terribly wrong,” Storey said during sentencing. “You basically took her childhood. It was disgusting and depraved.”
Gomez-Jimenez, 31, must serve 70 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Brian Lamb, deputy prosecutor, praised the work of Springdale police and said he hopes the case sends a message.
“This verdict just shows that, if you commit crimes against a child in this community, you’ll pay for it,” Lamb said.
The girl testified Gomez-Jimenez began sexually abusing her when she was 10 or 11 years old. She told jurors Gomez-Jimenez threatened to harm her if she told anyone.
Gomez-Jimenez didn’t testify but admitted in an interview with police he had sex with the girl on multiple occasions. At one point in the interview, Gomez-Jimenez told police he was in love with the girl.
Gomez-Jimenez and the girl denied in initial interviews that anything happened, but details each gave in subsequent interviews matched.