MCDONOUGH, GA — A McDonough man was sentenced to life Tuesday after pleading guilty to raping a child relative--and getting her pregnant.
The beginning of the end of the little girl's horror story began last September in Michigan.
"A little girl actually had miscarried a fetus," says Jodi Spiegel, Henry County (GA) Senior Assistant District Attorney. "And this little girl, nor her mother, really had any idea she was pregnant until that miscarriage."
The pair had brought the stillborn fetus to the hospital.
"She disclosed that the defendant, Michael Arnold, did this to her," said Spiegel. "She had literally just turned 12...when this got discovered."
Detectives in Michigan contacted McDonough Police. The two jurisdictions working together got DNA in both states which tied Arnold definitively to the crime, but Spiegel says Arnold also confessed.
The family is originally from Michigan, but were living in McDonough at the time of the assault in March of 2017. But the police probe indicates that it is likely that the abuse had been going on much longer.
The police investigation found that the girl had tried to get help once before, but had recanted her story with the Canton Police.
"About a year prior, she had disclosed that this was going on," said ADA Spiegel.
Spigel could not confirm why the case was not prosecuted there, but says it is not uncommon for attackers to threaten, intimidate, or elicit promises not to tell from their victims.
"This same victim had made an outcry, and nothing happened. That it has to get to this point for something to happen is what's also very sad," she says.
Arnold was serving a five-year sentence in Georgia for insurance fraud with a maximum possible release date of September 2020 when he was indicted for this rape.
Michael Arnold, 38, entered a guilty plea Tuesday to rape and child molestation. Under the plea agreement, Arnold received a split sentence, meaning he will serve every day of a 25-year prison sentence, and has no possibility of parole. He will be on probation and a registered sex offender for life once he's released. He made no statement before his sentence, but told Judge John “Trea” Pipkin that he did rape and molest the female family member in March of 2017. His lawyer said Arnold was remorseful, but Arnold made no statements in court.
“The family is satisfied with the outcome because it sends Mr. Arnold to jail for a significant amount of time and requires him to be supervised by law enforcement for the remainder or his life, while protecting the victim from testifying in court,” District Attorney Darius Pattillo said. “I commend McDonough Police and our team for conducting a thorough investigation and working diligently with public safety officials in another state to get justice in this case.”
Spiegel, who focuses on Crimes Against Women and Children, says this was a disturbing, sad case. As for the girl, now 13 years old, Spiegel says. "She has a very, very strong support system with her family, and I really think she will be okay. But it's something that will take a while to ever get over."
The family is happy to close the door on this and move on, says Spiegel.
"My job and my only real passion was to make sure that this person ended up in prison for it, so he couldn't hurt another little girl.
"We got justice for this little girl."