Man To Serve 20 Years For Child Molestation

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — A man from El Salvador has been convicted of three counts of child molestation and will serve 20 years and eight years in prison after a three-day trial, according to the Gwinnett District Attorney's Office.

In 2010, defendant Victor Calderon-Rivera brought a woman and her 10 and 11 year old children to the United States from El Salvador. While the mother was at work and the kids were home alone with Calderon, he crept into their bedroom, slid quietly under the 11 year old girl’s blankets and sexually assaulted her.

Like most young victims, the child was afraid and confused and did not tell anyone for many years. Calderon repeated these assaults for days, eventually grabbing the child’s hand at various times and attempting to place it on his penis. When the child became a young woman at 17 years old, she revealed the abuse to a family member and a friend who begged her to tell someone who could help. Eventually, the young woman told a school counselor who reported the matter to the Gwinnett County Police. Calderon was arrested and charged with rape, aggravated child molestation and child molestation.

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Although with little support from her family, the young woman testified before a jury about each act Calderon committed upon her when she was a child. Other witnesses who described the young woman as strong and calm in most circumstances shared that she became emotional when revealing the abuse to them for the first time. Calderon declined to testify, but through his lawyer attempted to discredit the young woman. After the jury deliberated for several hours and was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, Calderon-Rivera pled guilty to the offenses of three counts of child molestation.

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