The son of a former women representative from the Rift Valley could spend up to 24 years behind bars in the US after he was sentenced for rape.

Leonard Kiptoo Langat who was training as US soldier at the United States Naval Academy is being dismissed from training in what could ruin his “American dream”.

This follows his sentencing to 12 to 24 years in prison for a sex crime involving a minor in North Carolina.

Langat is said to have raped a minor who is the sister to his elder brother's wife.

The New York Times, one of the largest papers in the US, reported that Langat is on a leave of absence pending separation from the academy after pleading guilty to the sex offense.

Yesterday, the mother (name withheld) said he was not in communication with his son.

I am not in touch with them

Tuition for training in the academy is fully funded by the Navy and the graduates starting salaries are among highest in the US.

Langat was away from the academy on holiday break when the incident occurred on December 30 last year.

He entered the room of the female minor and engaged in unwanted sexual activity, police said.

Another woman related to the victim “caught” Langat in the child’s room, said Capt. John Tierney of the Concord Police Department.

Family members brought the girl to a children’s advocacy center, which provides services to abused children, where she reported him, Tierney said.

Langat, who lived in North Carolina, left the state after the incident and returned to the Naval Academy, Tierney said.

However, Concord police put out a fugitive warrant for his arrest.

He was arrested on January 9 and was held without bond and eventually charged with first-degree forcible sexual offense and statutory rape of a person less than 15 years old.

He was tried in the Cabarrus County Superior Court, where he pleaded guilty to indecent liberties with a minor, a felony sex offense in North Carolina.