Idaho Judge Gregory Moeller sentencing Marcos Narvaez-Zamore for raping, impregnating child

DRIGGS – A man who raped and impregnated an 11-year-old family member was sentenced to serve 32 years in prison Tuesday morning.

Marcos Narvaez-Zamore, 32, showed no sign of emotion as Idaho Seventh District Judge Gregory Moeller announced the sentence – which includes ten years fixed prison time, 22 years indeterminate.

Narvaez-Zamore, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was arrested and charged with rape in August after the victim’s brother contacted law enforcement.

Detectives say the 11-year-old, who lived in the home with Narvaez-Zamore, was repeatedly raped over a series of months.

Court documents show a pregnancy test was administered to girl, who had turned 12, last August. Medical personnel determined she was 27-weeks pregnant. She delivered the child at full term and officials say the infant was adopted by another family.

Through an interpreter Tuesday, Narvaez-Zamore admitted to Moeller he had committed a crime and said the past few months “have been very difficult.”

“I understand my mistakes and the rules that can be enforced on me,” Narvaez-Zamore said. “I apologize for everything that has happened and I recognize my error.”

David Parmenter, Narvaez-Zamore’s attorney, suggested his client serve five to ten years in prison.

“He has no prior criminal record and he has been supported by his two brothers who live in this community,” Parmenter said. “His brothers say he is not a bad person and everyone makes mistakes.”

Teton County Prosecutor Chris Lundberg recommended Narvaez-Zamore serve 20 years to life in prison based on information obtained from a pre-sentence report and psychosexual evaluation.

“The reports show he has a lack of insight to just how serious this was and the impact his conduct had on the victim,” Lundberg said.

Before handing down his sentence, Moeller told Narvaez-Zamore his case is one of the most “abominable and heartbreaking” he has ever seen during his years as an attorney and judge.

“I know that an 11-year-old girl’s dreams for her future don’t include her getting pregnant by her step-father,” Moeller said. “I can’t even begin to understand as an adult man the horror for her to discover she’s pregnant…and the pain and difficulty of someone so young and immature in carrying that child full term is just incomprehensible to me.”

Moeller referenced the pre-sentence report, which included Narvaez-Zamore telling investigators, “What happened is what needed to happen. But I don’t know how it happened.”

“I can’t think of a statement that I can disagree with on more levels,” Moeller said. “What happened was not what needed to happen. It should never happened and the comment is unacceptable to the court. He knows exactly how it happened.”

In addition to his prison sentence, Narvaez-Zamore was ordered to pay fines and restitution with part of the money going toward the victim. He must also register as a sex offender when he gets out of prison. Because he is an undocumented immigrant, he will not serve probation.

“It’s my hope after you’ve spent half your life in prison, you might begin to halfway understand the pain you’ve caused here,” Moeller said to Narvaez-Zamore before he was led away from the courtroom.

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