A man was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation for first degree rape charges relating to a 12-year-old child.

According to the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Emeterio Rivera was previously convicted of two counts of first degree rape and one count of sexual battery of a victim under the age of 13. All of the offenses involved a 12-year-old child. 

After the child disclosed the abuse, the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. At the trial, expert witnesses from the Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory and the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory testified that the defendant’s DNA was consistent with DNA recovered from a rape kit and from the child’s bedroom.

On Wednesday, Rivera was sentenced to: 

• First Degree Rape (count 1)—life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

• First Degree Rape (count 2)—life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

• Sexual Battery of a Child Under the Age of 13—Thirty years at hard labor, with the first 25 years to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

All of the sentences are to be served concurrently.

Assistant District Attorney Alister Charrier prosecuted the case with assistance from Assistant District Attorneys Cynthia Spadoni and Ashley Hammons.