A 42-year-old registered sex offender was sentenced to life in prison without parole this week for molesting a child, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“Not only was this man a habitual criminal who had been to prison before for sexually assaulting a minor, but he was a registered sex offender,” Ogg said. “He is a predator, and he will now spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Manuel Enrique Arana Jr. was convicted by a jury on Monday of continuous sexual assault of a child under the age of 14 and automatically sentenced to life in prison without parole.

During the four-day trial, jurors heard how Arana repeatedly sexually assaulted a young girl for more than a year, beginning when she was 7 years old. The Houston Police Department investigated the case.

Arana has a long criminal history of hurting women and girls.

In 2013, Arana pleaded guilty to assaulting a female family member in a domestic violence situation.

Before that, he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old when he was 17 years old in 1999. After admitting his guilt, he was sentenced to eight years in prison.

When he was released, Arana was mandated to register as a sex offender but did not comply and spent time behind bars for that in 2009.

Assistant District Attorney Jayelle Lozoya, who is assigned to the Crimes Against Children Division of the DA’s Office, prosecuted Arana with Danielle Oxford, who is a chief in that division.

“We asked the jurors to ‘Believe him when he shows you who he is,’ and they did just that. They believed he sexually assaulted yet another child, and for that, we are proud of them,” Lozoya said.

The 42-year-old will never be eligible for parole.

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