Two men in Arkansas have admitted raping a six-year-old child after hospital workers found she had multiple sexually transmitted diseases, the New York Post reported Monday.
Twenty-seven-year-old Demarcus George and 33-year-old Mario Waters confessed during a federal court hearing in Little Rock recently they had sexual contact with the girl and were involved in sex trafficking her, according to prosecutors.
“The two men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of the girl in a plea deal that will cancel their upcoming jury trial and spare the 6-year-old from having to testify,” the outlet said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Arkansas detailed the case in a press release on Thursday:
In February 2018, a 6-year-old child was taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital due to symptoms that were later determined to be caused by several sexually transmitted diseases. The child was interviewed by an FBI forensic interviewer and disclosed that a man, later determined to be Demarcus George, had raped her. The child also disclosed that another man, later determined to be Mario Waters, had also raped her. The child told interviewers that the rape occurred in a hotel room with a curtain in the middle of the room, and she described a picture hanging on the wall in the hotel room.
Authorities were able to find the hotel in Little Rock matching the description by the minor, including the picture hanging on the wall and the curtain.
Financial records showed the child’s mother rented a room at the hotel in March 2018, using a credit card.
The child was later removed from her mother’s custody, the agency continued:
Doctors at Arkansas Children’s Hospital determined that it was unlikely the child had obtained each sexually transmitted disease from the same offender and that there were likely multiple offenders. Officers obtained search warrants for George and Waters’ blood and urine. Results indicated that George and Waters tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases that the minor had contracted. Both George and Waters admitted in court that they had sexual contact with the minor and were involved in trafficking her with others.
“The unspeakable crimes committed against this child remind us how vitally important it is to have law enforcement officers willing to investigate and put a stop to these horrific actions,” Acting United States Attorney Jonathan D. Ross said.
George and Waters were scheduled to be sentenced at a later date.
“Conspiracy to commit human trafficking of a minor is punishable by any term of imprisonment up to life and not less than five years of supervised release,” the attorney’s office noted.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defined sex trafficking as “When individuals are compelled by force, fraud, or coercion to engage in commercial sex acts.”
“Sex trafficking of a minor occurs when the victim is under the age of 18. For cases involving minors, it is not necessary to prove force, fraud, or coercion,” the website read.