Arkansas man sentenced to life for raping 6-year-old and giving her 'several' STDs

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (TCD) -- The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas announced this week that 34-year-old Mario Waters will spend the rest of his life in prison for raping and trafficking a 6-year-old girl in 2018.

According to the U..S. Attorney’s Office, in February 2018, the 6-year-old went to Arkansas Children’s Hospital and was found to be suffering from symptoms "caused by several sexually transmitted diseases."

The little girl told an FBI forensic interviewer that two men, DeMarcus George and Waters, raped her. She reportedly described the hotel room in which the assaults occurred and shared details about a "curtain in the middle of the room" as well as a specific picture on the wall.

Law enforcement officials located the hotel in Little Rock and found the room with the curtain in it and the picture that she recounted. Investigators learned the girl’s mother was renting a room at the hotel and paid for it by credit card. The child is reportedly no longer in her mother’s custody.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said the girl explained Waters raped her when she was in the room with George, then Waters handed George money.

According to the statement, doctors at Children’s Hospital "determined that it was unlikely the child had obtained each sexually transmitted disease from the same offender and that there were likely multiple offenders."

Officers tested Waters and George’s blood and urine and found they both tested positive for the sexually transmitted diseases the girl also had.

Waters and George both pleaded guilty in November 2021 to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. George was sentenced in October.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said there is no parole available in the federal prison system.

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