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GWINNETT COUNTY, GA – A 59-year-old Norcross man was convicted of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl, the District Attorney’s Office said on Tuesday (Sept. 22).
A Gwinnett County jury found Alejandro Rangel guilty of aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery, and five counts of child molestation for sexually abusing the teen over the course of two months in 2024. He was sentenced to life in prison plus one year of probation.
“We are thankful for the outcome of this trial and grateful for the team of prosecutors and investigators who put this case together,” District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said.
In May 2024, the defendant began touching the teen victim inappropriately and against her will. He continued to do so sporadically through June of that year until he no longer had contact with the girl. Later that year, when the teen came into contact again with Rangel, family noticed that she was visibly uncomfortable and often crying when she was around him. She reported the abuse to family members who contacted Norcross police.
Rangel told investigators that he may have touched her when he was “tickling her too close” to her breasts. But the victim’s reports of the events, both in forensic interviews with investigators and in trial, consistently contradicted his recollection and described him touching her inside her pants.
Jurors deliberated for about two hours before finding him guilty of all charges.
Special Victims Unit Assistant District Attorney Mikaela Henderson and Assistant District Attorney Kathy Li prosecuted the case with assistance from SVU Investigator Michael Bednarz and SVU Victim Witness Advocate Rocio Pineda. The Norcross Police Department was instrumental in closing the case, the DA said.
Alejandro Rangel/Photo via Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office