FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - A Fulton County man has sentenced to 40 years in prison after being convicted of raping and impregnating his 13-year-old daughter.
According to Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, 39-year-old Cedric, whose last name is not being released to protect the victim, repeatedly raped his 13-year-old biological daughter between May 1, 2016 and Nov. 30, 2016.
The sexual abuse continued until officials say the victim's grandmother noticed her granddaughter was pregnant at her 14th birthday party.
The grandmother contacted the Union City Police Department, who started an investigation.
Officials say DNA evidence confirmed Cedric was the father of his daughter's unborn child and he was arrested. The young girl later gave birth to the trial.
Once in jail, however, officials say he tried to disrupt his case by telling the mother of the victim to leave Georgia. The woman, her daughter, and the infant child was taken to South Carolina. The Fulton County District Attorney worked with the Fifth Judicial Circuit Solicitor's Office in South Carolina to make sure the victim and her mother were at the trial.
At jury selection, Cedric entered a non-negotiated guilty plea to charges of rape, incest, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, and sexual battery.
He was sentenced to 40 years in prison plus life on probation.
"We will continue to work to see to it that defendants who target the most vulnerable citizens within our community are held accountable for their actions," Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said in a statement.