A US airman has been jailed for six years for raping a 12-year-old girl with autism while he was stationed at a UK airbase.
Instigation
Dennis Rocha, 18, began talking to the girl on Snapchat — sending her sexually explicit messages even though he knew how young she was, Wiltshire police said.
The rape
He then drove 140 miles from his base at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk to meet the vulnerable girl in Wiltshire, taking her to a secluded spot where he raped her multiple times.
Arrest
The teen airman was ‘swiftly arrested’ and charged after the young girl told her mom, who told Swindon Crown Court that the girl was blaming herself for being abused.
‘I’m worried I might be pregnant and I won’t find out until next week,’ the youngster told cops, according to the Swindon Advertiser.
Rocha pleaded guilty to two counts of raping a child under 13 and appeared via videolink to apologize to the girl, her family and ‘anyone else’ he hurt, according to the local paper.
Sentence
The airman was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison, with another year on license, the UK equivalent of parole.
He will also be subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and must sign the UK’s sex offenders’ register.
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‘Rocha instigated this encounter with the victim despite knowing she was underage,’ Detective Constable Amanda Lord of Wiltshire’s Child Abuse Investigation Team said.
‘He knew what he was doing was illegal and had ample opportunity to cease contact with the victim, but continued and took advantage of her for his own gain.
‘We take offenses like these incredibly seriously and we will always look to protect children from predators such as Rocha and ensure perpetrators of sexual offenses are put before the courts.’
