HOUSTON – A man will spend the rest of his life in prison for sexually assaulting a young boy.
Michael Snowden, 23, was found guilty in November 2010 of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old boy in the men's restroom of the Montrose library.
On Thursday, the judge sentenced him to life in prison.
"A life sentence was the only way to assure for certain that he would not re-offend or assault children," prosecutor Maritza Antu said.
Investigators said Snowden crawled under a toilet stall at the library and raped the boy.
Snowden took the stand and said he started to get the urge to assault children after he was raped as a child.
Snowden was abandoned by his mother at a McDonald's when he was 8 years old. Soon after, he was raped by a stranger in his neighborhood, but he didn't tell anyone.
"This defendant was a true pedophile who has been an offender since the age of 9 years old," Antu said.
Snowden has been in and out of jail since he was 16 years old. He has abused strangers, neighbors, classmates and relatives as young as 1 year old, prosecutors said.
"I think they will all sleep well knowing this guy will never get out," Antu said.
Snowden said he was sorry for what he had done, but he admitted that he was likely to offend again.