Office of the Attorney General
Attorney General Conway Announces Convicted Child Rapist Receives Maximum Sentence

Attorney General Jack Conway and his Office of Special Prosecutions today announced that Marshall Circuit Court Judge Denis Faust imposed the jury-recommended maximum sentence on a man convicted of child rape in December of 2009.

Mark V. Rapone, 51, recently of Kansas, was convicted by a jury in Marshall County of rape first degree for having sexual intercourse with a four-year-old child in Marshall County, KY in 2008. The jury also found Rapone guilty of being a persistent felony offender in the first degree and recommended the maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole for 25 years. The new maximum sentence was authorized by the General Assembly in a 2007 amendment to the Kentucky Penal Code, intended to increase sentences on habitual offenders who prey on children.

The testimony revealed that Rapone had moved to Kentucky after meeting the victim’s grandmother in an Internet chat room a few years before. A few weeks after he began to reside with the child’s mother, he attacked the young victim at home while her mother was at work. The jury heard from more than 10 witnesses, including a forensic pediatrician with the Purchase Area Sexual Assault Center, and the child herself. During the penalty phase, the jury heard from an investigator with the Office of Special Prosecutions who had compiled a criminal history of Rapone’s prior felony convictions stemming back 25 years across two states. The jury then recommended the maximum sentence.

"This case demonstrates my office’s firm and continued commitment to the protection of the children of Kentucky from predators of all types," said General Conway. "I applaud the efforts of the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office in their investigation of this horrendous crime, which allowed our prosecutors to obtain the maximum penalty."

The Attorney General’s Office of Special Prosecutions handled the trial of this case at the request of Commonwealth’s Attorney Mark Blankenship and Marshall County Sheriff Kevin Byars.

Mark V. Rapone, 51