A man has been arrested by authorities in California over a horrifying attack against a child.
The California pedophile was arrested for a violent sexual assault of a minor, police revealed.
The victim was so severely injured during the brutal attack that they had to be rushed to a children’s hospital for surgery.
The sex criminal, 40-year-old Arthur Dean Knapp, has a long criminal past, said police.
Chowchilla police and the Madera County Sheriff’s Office performed a search at Knapp’s residence.
Knapp, a known pedophile, was charged with the horrific sexual assault that occurred on Thursday.
Chowchilla Police Chief Jeffrey Palmer described Knapp as a “monster.”
While police didn’t reveal details about the assault, Palmer said the nature of the attack meant it could have only been committed by someone who is “absolutely a monster.”
Palmer also took a thinly veiled swipe at the state’s soft-on-crime policies, particularly involving pedophilia.
He noted that Knapp “should never be out on the streets.”
“To do something like this, he’s absolutely a monster,” said Palmer.
“When you take the innocence of a young minor like that, you’re a monster.”
“He is a dangerous person and quite honestly after this, he is somebody that should never be out on the streets,” he added.
Knapp is facing charges, including rape, assault, and attempted murder.
Police said he had a long criminal past including a conviction in 2019 for domestic violence.
He was sentenced to six years in prison, and then in 2021, was sentenced again to six years in prison on charges that included assault.
Knapp was on parole when he was arrested for the new charges.
Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno told KFSN-TV that laws had grown lenient over the last decade.
However, Moreno said she would make sure that Knapp was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law once the investigation was completed.
Palmer asked the community to avoid trying to find the victim’s identity out of respect for their privacy.
“We’re now having to talk about a young victim who is going to have to put their life together and they don’t need everybody asking on social media who this victim is and quite honestly violating their rights of privacy,” he said.
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Chowchilla is a small town of about 20,000 residents in central California.
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