A Cornelia man is awaiting sentencing after jurors convicted him of multiple sex crimes against children this week, including rape.
According to Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Christian, jurors found Pedro Pena, 55, guilty on all counts of a nine-count indictment.
The trial ended on August 4.
During the three-day trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Pena sexually assaulted two of his female relatives while they were visiting him from Texas in the summer of 2015. At the time, one of the girls was 13, and the other was 14. The abuse was not disclosed until 2018. That’s when the youngest victim confided in a counselor while undergoing outpatient treatment for emotional and behavioral problems caused by the abuse.
The victim’s revelation prompted a joint investigation by Cornelia and Haltom, Texas, police.
The girls underwent a forensic interview at Alliance for Children, a child advocacy center near Fort Worth, Texas. Forensic interviewer Alexis Harrison traveled to Georgia to testify in the trial.
On the strength of that and other evidence, jurors convicted Pena of two counts of incest, two counts of sexual battery against a child under 16, two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, two counts of aggravated child molestation, and one count of rape.
Habersham County Superior Court Judge Chan Caudell is scheduled to sentence Pena for the crimes on September 22.
