Hardeeville man pleads guilty, 12-year-old girl ‘extremely brave to come forward’

A 34-year-old Hardeeville man pleaded guilty on Monday to sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 2016, according to a 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office news release.

Victor Lopez-Romero pleaded guilty to second degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and was sentenced to 18 years in prison by Circuit Court Judge Perry M. Buckner in the Jasper County Courthouse, according to the release.

“The young victim in this case was extremely brave to come forward,” Assistant Solicitor Patrick Hall said. “She was instrumental in helping to successfully prosecute this defendant.”

After the girl’s aunt went to work in the early morning hours of Sept. 13, 2016, Lopez-Romero took the girl from her bedroom and assaulted her in his own room, according to the Solicitor’s Office. Afterward, he “passed out,” and the girl called 911 alongside a cousin of hers whom she found inside the house.

The girl was examined at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and doctors found trauma, according to the release. DNA was collected and the match for Lopez-Romero’s DNA was “one in 62 quintillion,” Hall said. “That’s 62 followed by 18 zeros.”

The Solicitor’s Office did not provide a photograph of Lopez-Romero.

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Hardeeville man pleads guilty, 12-year-old girl ‘extremely brave to come forward’."