Former poster child, Adam Croote, for missing kids gets 25 in child rape

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – A man who was a poster child for victimized children has been sentenced to at least 25 years in prison for raping and choking a 10-year-old girl.

Adam Croote — whose own childhood was so wrenching that he was invited to the White House at age 7 as a symbol of the plight of missing children — was sentenced Friday, The Times Union reported. Croote, 23, pleaded guilty in March to attacking a child he was babysitting.

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One-Time Poster Child for Missing Children Sentenced for Child Rape

A New York man who was once a poster child for missing children was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison Friday for sexually assaulting and trying to strangle a 10-year-old girl, according to Albany County District Attorney David Soares.

Adam Croote, 24, pleaded guilty in March to Predatory Sexual Assault Against a Child after sexually assaulting and trying to strangle a girl he was babysitting in June 2011.

According to police documents obtained by ABC News affiliate News10, Croote admitted to playing Monopoly and an Xbox game with the girl, and when she left the room to get a snack, he took off his clothes.

“I took off my pants and boxers. She came back and saw me naked from the waist down and looked at my but didn’t say anything,” Croote told police, according to the documents.

Croote then tried to strangle the girl and came close to snapping her neck, police said.

The girl escaped and Croote fled, but was tracked down by police.

The girl’s father was aware that Croote was a registered sex offender, but had not planned for child care that afternoon.

Croote is no stranger to crime. He was first arrested as a teenager in Wendell, Mass. on felony charges for sexual assaulting a 25-year-old woman.

In 1990, Croote witnessed his father murder his pregnant mother. The family fought over Croote’s custody, and his maternal grandparents abducted him. It wasn’t until 1995 that they were caught and arrested.

In 1996, “Little Adam Croote” was invited to the White House to visit President Bill Clinton as he signed an executive order mandating that federal buildings allow space to post missing child posters.

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