An undocumented immigrant in California was sentenced to 401 years in prison last week after a jury convicted him of multiple violent sex crimes against a family. And the victims are advocating against deportation, fearful he’ll just return.
Macario Cerda, 39, was sentenced Thursday on three counts of forcible rape against two victims between 2009 and 2013. He was also convicted of one count of kidnapping to commit rape, one count of criminal threats and seven counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14, according to a press release from the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors say on Feb. 26, 2013, Cerda was dating the victims’ mother when he forced one victim into his car and drove her to a “remote location.” He raped her and threaten her family.
Court records said that during the rape the victim’s mother called her; hearing yelling, she called police.
The victim ultimately escaped by jumping into the driver’s seat and driving off when Cerda temporarily got out of the car.
Cerda, who has prior convictions for felony domestic violence and criminal threats against the victims’ mother, was an undocumented immigrant who was deported and returned five months later to commit these crimes, according to the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office. – READ MORE