A former FBI agent was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for raping an 11-year-old girl.
On Thursday, the Associated Press (AP) reported that Christopher Bauer, a former FBI agent received the sentence following a trial in Alabama. Bauer previously worked as an officer for the Alabama State Police and was accused of the crime while serving as an Alabama State Trooper.
In June, a jury found Bauer guilty of sexual abuse against a child under the age of 12 and first-degree sodomy.
The AP previously conducted an investigation into the incident and found that Bauer was removed from the FBI over accusations that he raped one of his co-workers “at knifepoint.”
According to the AP, Bauer, 45, was able to create a fraudulent letter showing that he was “eligible for rehire” following his removal from the FBI, allowing him to get a job with the Alabama State Police.
“It seems no matter what I say, no one wants to believe I’m innocent,” Bauer told the judge this week, the AP reported. “All it took was an accusation to strip me of everything.”
Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl D. Bailey said that Bauer needs to be “removed from our streets forever” and called him a “sexual predator,” the AP reported.
Similarly, the girl’s mother called Bauer “a monster” and told the judge that he used his badge to display the “image of a good person.”
“He had everyone fooled,” the mother of the girl said.
Despite the denial from Bauer, Montgomery Circuit Judge Jimmy Pool said that he “believed every single word” of the testimony from the victim upon sentencing him to life behind bars.
The AP said that lawyers for Bauer argued against the lifetime prison sentence, citing an abusive childhood.
“Several instances stick out to Mr. Bauer, including once when he was pushed out of the third floor of a building and another when he was left in a burning apartment,” lawyers for Bauer wrote in a court filing.
Bauer was arrested in 2021 and also faces similar charges relating to child sexual abuse in Louisiana.
During the trial, Bauer took the stand and defended himself. During his testimony, Bauer was asked if he sodomized or abused the child, prompting him to deny and say “no, never.”
“If she said I did something to her, then yes that’s a lie,” he said during the trial, according to the AP.
Newsweek reached out to the FBI and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency via email on Thursday for comment.
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