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Orange County resident Cecilio Navarro, age 35, of Middletown, was sentenced to 22 years to life in prison in Orange County Court on Tuesday, July 18.
It came after a jury convicted him of multiple sex crimes in March 2023.
According to prosecutors, Navarro began sexually abusing the victim in December 2016, when the victim was under the age of 13. The abuse continued on and off through 2021.
Navarro was arrested by the Orange County Child Investigation Unit in June 2022 and the trial began in early March 2023.
Jurors ultimately convicted him on two counts of rape and one count of predatory sexual assault against a child.
“The evidence at trial conclusively proved that this defendant had, since 2016, been a sexual predator preying on the most helpless type of victim, a child,” Orange County DA David Hoovler said.
“The community will undoubtedly be safer during the decades that he is in prison."
Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence Navarro to 36 years to life in prison, the maximum allowed under state law. However, the judge permitted him to serve his individual sentences concurrently, bringing down his time behind bars to 22 years to life.
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