PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) — A Maryland man was sentenced after raping two impoverished girls while employed at a U.S. Embassy in a country in Africa.
41-year-old Fode Sitafa Mara, a U.S. citizen, was working at the U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso where he was living at a residence leased by the U.S. According to evidence presented at trial, Mara forcibly raped two teenage Burkinabé girls who lived in abject poverty a short distance from his residence.
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The previous owner at the residence, prior to Mara, used to help the teenage girls and their families, who lived in a structure without running water. When Mara arrived and began living there, he saw an opportunity to take advantage of the situation, according to a release.
For about 1 year, beginning when the victims were 13 and 15 years old, Mara repeatedly sexually assaulted them. He used the girls’ mother’s life-threatening illness as an opportunity to demand sex, telling them he could not help them without receiving something in return. He gave the victims phones to summon them while his wife was away at work…