Canton Man Convicted of Raping Child

A Canton man has been convicted of raping a child and other felony charges, the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office announced.

A Cherokee County jury convicted Canton resident Juan Nazario Lopez, 53, of five charges April 26 including rape, incest, aggravated child molestation, child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes.

The guilty verdict was announced after a four-day trial in Chief Superior Court Judge Ellen McElyea’s courtroom. The jury deliberated for about a day and a half.

Lopez’s sentencing hearing is set for May 8.

According to the district attorney’s office, the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office began investigating allegations April 16, 2023, after a woman reported that her niece was being molested by a family member. Multiple family members were interviewed, and the child and her younger sibling participated in forensic interviews.

During the trial, jurors listened to testimony from 11 witnesses including law enforcement officers, an expert in dynamics of child sexual abuse, an expert in forensic interviewing, and the victim and her sibling.

Assistant District Attorney Meaghan Frankish of the office’s Special Victims Unit prosecuted the case.