A 60-year-old Van Buren man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison after a Crawford County Circuit Court jury convicted him of raping an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant and to whom a daughter was born.
The prosecuting attorney's office said the jury deliberated for less than 10 minutes Tuesday before convicting Lenin Alejandro-Alvarez of rape and of second-degree sexual assault for having other sexual contact with the girl.
He was sentenced to 40 years in prison on the rape conviction and to 20 years on the sexual-assault charge.
The sentences were ordered to be served consecutively, or one after the other.
Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune said in a Facebook post Tuesday that Alejandro-Alvarez will have to serve 31 years before he is eligible for parole.
Court records show the rape and assault occurred between Jan. 1, 2016, and Sept. 9, 2016, when Alejandro-Alvarez was arrested.
McCune said on Facebook that the child's mother was in Texas at the time of the rape. She had been delayed in returning to Arkansas while trying to get money to repair her vehicle.
State Desk on 05/13/2018