Guatemalan man pleads guilty to raping 15-year-old Brunswick girl
Nov. 4—A Guatemalan man who tried to leave the country to avoid punishment for his crime in Brunswick has pleaded guilty to forcibly raping a 15-year-old girl in 2020.
Israel Sanchez, 38, pleaded guilty Monday in Glynn County Superior Court to rape and child molestation. Judge Roger B. Lane subsequently sentenced Sanchez to 25 years in prison for rape and 20 years in prison for child molestation. The sentences will run concurrently, according to the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office. Sanchez also must register as a sex offender.
Authorities said Sanchez already knew the victim and used the familiarization to victimize her. Having performed repair work at the girl's home, he showed up at the residence when she was there alone on Oct. 24, 2020. Seeing he had work tools, the girl let Sanchez inside.
Sanchez later barged his way uninvited inside the girl's bedroom, then forcibly raped her. He immediately departed the home afterward.
Sanchez left Georgia and was attempting to escape the country when members of the U.S. Marshals Service nabbed him in Texas.
