A Little Rock man indicted in 2019 for conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a 6-year-old child will spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced Tuesday in federal court by U.S. District Judge Brian Miller.
Calling the crime "heinous," Miller gave 28-year-old DeMarcus "Daddy" George the maximum sentence and also sentenced him to life on supervised release in the event he ever is released from prison.
George was indicted with another man, 34-year-old Marco "Uncle Red" Waters of Palestine, after a 6-year-old child was taken to Arkansas Children's Hospital in February 2018 suffering from 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 identified as George, had raped her, according to court records. The records said the child told investigators that another man, later identified as Waters, had also raped her.
She said the rape occurred in a hotel room that she described for interviewers. Doctors at Arkansas Children's Hospital determined that the child had been raped by multiple offenders.
Blood tests indicated that both men tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases the minor victim had contracted.
Both men pleaded guilty last November just days before they were scheduled to go to trial, admitting in court that they had sexual contact with the victim and were involved in trafficking her with others.
Waters appeared for sentencing two weeks ago but Miller canceled the hearing after learning that Waters' attorney, Adam Childers of North Little Rock, had not reviewed his pre-sentencing report with the defendant. A sentencing date for Waters has not been reset. After the hearing, Miller appointed Garry Corrothers of Little Rock to represent Waters. George was represented in court by Molly Sullivan with the Federal Public Defenders Office in Little Rock.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Bragg and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bryant.
Miller said in court before sentencing George that of all the cases he had seen over the years as a prosecutor and a judge -- including one where a defendant killed his father and burned his body and another where an employee killed two co-workers and hid their bodies in a freezer -- this case was worse than all of them.
U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross said the nature of the crime justified the life sentence handed down by Miller.
"This defendant's callousness and depravity resulted in one of the most serious crimes our office has ever prosecuted," Ross said in a statement to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"A horrific crime with lifelong consequences for the victim is now being met with lifelong consequences for the defendant as well."