St. Charles teen sentenced to prison in rape of 11-year-old girl that led to birth of child

ST. CHARLES — A St. Charles teenager was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison after admitting to raping an 11-year-old girl who later gave birth to a boy as a result of the attack.

Norvin L. Lopez-Cante, 18, pleaded guilty to statutory rape and incest in a plea deal with prosecutors who dismissed a count of statutory sodomy. Circuit Judge Jon Cunningham accepted terms of the plea agreement and gave Lopez-Cante a 10-year sentence for statutory rape and a concurrent four-year term for incest.

Charges said Lopez-Cante had sex with the girl in June 2019 but admitted sexually assaulting the girl approximately 100 times. The victim is a relative.

Also charged in the case are Lesbia Cante, 36, and Francisco J. Gonzalez-Lopez, 39, also of St. Charles. Each is charged with endangering the welfare of a child because prosecutors say they failed to seek medical attention for the girl after she gave birth.

The girl gave birth in a bathtub at her St. Charles home on Feb. 11, 2020, and the newborn was taken to a St. Charles hospital for treatment about an hour later. Detectives were notified and found the 11-year-old at the home.

The baby was born at about 32 weeks, or roughly two months early, authorities said.

Authorities have said immigration officials placed a hold on all three defendants because all three had entered the country illegally. A prosecutor said Gonzalez-Lopez has since been deported but that his case is pending in St. Charles County. Lesbia Cante’s case is set for a plea hearing April 28. She posted bail in July and was released from jail.

Lopez-Cante, who is from Guatemala, told a judge Monday that he completed 10th grade at St. Charles High School. His lawyer said Monday that Lopez-Cante likely will be deported because of his convictions.

The girl was born in the United States. Authorities said she didn’t know she was pregnant.

The Post-Dispatch is withholding the relationship of the four to one another to avoid identifying the girl.

The girl addressed Lopez-Cante in court Monday, telling him she is in foster care and the baby has grown to 19 pounds since leaving the hospital.

“Sometimes I wonder how life would be if this had never happened,” she told Lopez-Cante.