Luna to serve 16 years for rape of 10-year-old

A man who raped a 10-year-old girl while her mother was at work last year will serve 16 years behind bars.

The defendant, Teodale Regalado Luna, entered a guilty plea to the charge of child rape and was ordered by Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to serve 16 years in the state penitentiary.

The sentence is to be served at 100 percent because it is a violent sexual crime involving a child. The 100 percent clause means he will not be eligible for early release by parole. He will also be required to list himself with the state sexual offender registry on which he will be required to remain for the rest of his life. He is also to have no contact in any form with the victim or her family.

Luna, who was a friend of the family at the time of the crime, reportedly used his good relationship with the victim?s family to commit the crime. An immigrant farm worker, Luna had lived here for about seven years and had obtained a social security card and driver?s license.

The child rape took place in the early morning hours after the child?s mother left for work. The mother believed Luna would also be leaving for work; however, lawmen say he instead crept into the child?s bedroom in the pre-dawn hours and slipped under her covers and committed the crimes. The contact included several types of inappropriate fondling and touching, each occurring during one encounter in the victim?s home near Viola.

After the incident, the child told her older brother who had been sleeping in another portion of the house. Authorities were told a short time later and Luna was arrested.