CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte mother will spend the next 10 years in prison for a crime that investigators said was the worst that they have ever seen.
Eyewitness News was there Monday as Darlene Enos pleaded guilty to sex charges involving her 1-year-old daughter.
Enos spoke clearly without emotion Monday afternoon as she plead guilty to a conspiracy to rape and sexually assault her own daughter.
It was a case that was both brutal and bizarre, a horrible crime she kept secret from almost everyone.
When Eyewitness News talked with Enos outside her east Charlotte apartment almost two years ago, there was no clue that she was involved in an online sexual relationship that would lead her to abuse her own infant daughter and now face 10 years in prison.
"It is one of the worst cases I have ever seen," said prosecutor Kelly Stetzer.
Stetzer signed off on the plea deal Monday because Enos had agreed to testify against the man she had met online and who had come to her apartment to sexually assault Enos' daughter.
Vincent McDougald plead guilty last month and will spend 23 years in prison, Enos will do less than half of that.
"Darlene said that Mr. McDougald was violent, that she felt that she had to do these things for him," said Stetzer.
"She has always been cooperative with law enforcement, since the beginning of this case," said defense attorney Reggie McKnight.
Enos' attorney had also signed off on the deal.
He said that Enos has been involved in several programs in jail over the last year and a half and the little baby she admitted abusing is safe.
"The child is safe with a family member. I've been in constant contact with that family member and the child is doing fine," said McKnight.
Enos will get some credit for the time she has spent in jail.
When she gets out of prison she will have to register as a sex offender for 30 years.
WSOC
