“MONSTER”: Feds say man raped autistic child at Camp Lejeune

RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) - A Fayetteville man has been convicted of sex crimes involving a 9-year-old girl at Camp Lejeune.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says a federal jury convicted David Mayes of aggravated sexual abuse against a child.

“This monster preyed on the most vulnerable nine-year-old imaginable,” said U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle. “He exploited his relationship with the family to violate this defenseless innocent child in the most inhuman ways imaginable.”

The feds says Mayes raped the severely autistic, nonverbal child while he was visiting her family at the Marine Corps base. The victim’s mother came home early and found her daughter’s door closed. Alarmed, she opened the door and caught the man in the act, a news release said.

Prosecutors say they found Mayes’ fingerprints on a tub of petroleum jelly that was in her room and the victim’s DNA on the man.

The 41-year-old man faces a mandatory minimum of 30 years in federal prison and could get life, the feds say.