A California man has was sentenced to 1,503 years in prison for raping his daughter over a four-year period.
The Fresno Bee reports Judge Edward Sarkisian Jr agreed to the sentencing for Rene Lopez after the 41-year-old refused to take a plea deal, allowing him only to serve 13 years. Lopez was arrested in November 2013 after his daughter reported his vile actions to the police. Prosecutor Nicole Galstan revealed the unnamed victim was sexually assaulted by a family friend before Lopez started raping the 12-year-old two to three times a week from May 2009 to 2013. In September, a jury found Lopez guilty of 186 felony counts of sexual assault, including over a dozen counts of rape of a minor. The sentence is the longest given out in Fresno Superior Court history.
“He chose to turn her into a piece of property and use her to satisfy his sexual needs,” the prosecutor said to Judge Sarkisian. Now 23, the victim read an emotional statement to the rapist, who refused to admit guilt for his crimes. “When my father abused me, I was young. I had no power, no voice. I was defenseless,” she said.
After two failed plea deals, Lopez wrote a letter to the judge calling his daughter a liar and the investigation findings “hearsay.” The court denied Lopez’s accounts due to the “overwhelming” evidence left in the form of diary entries and abortion which Lopez paid for.
Even after the harrowing ordeal, Lopez still continued to pursue his daughter by leaving her voicemails, driving past her new home and leaving love notes on her door.