Mario Navarro (Photo courtesy of Harris County District Attorney's Office)
HOUSTON - A man accused of molesting a child at a thrift store has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
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The Harris County District Attorney's Office announced Saturday Mario Navarro, 52, of Greenspoint, was sentenced this week for molesting a 9-year-old boy at a thrift store in 2016.
Court documents say Navarro ran into a woman he knew and her son and told the boy "he had some candy in the back of the store and lured him into a restroom." That's where the DA's office says he put a towel around the boy's eyes and assaulted him.
About four months later, the DA's office says the boy told his mother that he had a "secret" and told her what had happened at the thrift store. She called the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and arrested Navarro after an investigation was launched.
A judge sentenced the 52-year-old to 22 years, which was lauded by Assistant District Attorney Brett Batchelor, who helped prosecute the case and District Attorney Kim Ogg.
"It’s a parent’s worst nightmare: a sexual predator just lurking in a store ready to lure children away from their parents," he said.
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"This sexual predator has destroyed this boy’s childhood and turned the innocent act of shopping with his mother into a traumatic experience of recurring fear, worry, and disgust," Ogg added. "Situations like this are absolutely heartbreaking."