Before Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth announced the sentence, he told Cruz he can’t imagine the horrendous effect his actions have had on the victim.
“I’ve been a judge now for several years and I’ve got to say this is the most serious rape case and one of the most serious criminal cases that I’ve ever presided over, Mr. Cruz,” Spaeth said. “This is horrible what you did to a 9-year-old girl.”
Defense attorney Lawrence Hawkins asked Spaeth to run the sentences concurrently, which would have meant Cruz might have been parole eligible after 10 years. Spaeth refused.
Cruz snatched the girl off of the street, took her up to a dirty second-floor bedroom and raped her. She managed to escape and ran naked across the street to her father’s house on Sycamore Street.
Cruz fled the area and eventually the country after the crime. Law enforcement hunted for him for six years until he was apprehended in Mexico and brought back in September to stand trial.
A tearful Cruz apologized through an interpreter to the girl, who was in court with her adoptive parents.
“I am very sorry. I never thought of myself getting into trouble,” he said. “I’m very sorry for what I did.”
The girl’s father, who asked not to be identified, told Cruz he stole his daughter’s innocence, and while she has forgiven him, he hasn’t gotten to that point yet. He said he will be at every parole hearing and his sons will take up the mantle when he is no longer able. After the hearing, he said he was satisfied with the outcome.
“I’m just glad justice is done and she finally will be able to get some relief,” he said. “It’s been a long year, it’s been a very long year since they notified us in March of last year they caught him. It’s been hard to get through because all of those emotions she had came back... But this is taking care of all that.”
Hawkins said he will file a notice of appeal with the 12th District Court of Appeals.
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