A Level 3 sex offender convicted of child rape after an attack on a 6-year-old boy in a public library was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday.

Corey Deen Saunders, 27, pleaded guilty in February to child rape, indecent assault and battery, enticing a child and threats to commit a crime.

"This is a repeat pedophile," Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter said.

Saunders was arrested on Jan. 30, 2008, after he lured a boy into a reading room at the New Bedford Public Library and raped him while the victim's mother worked on a computer nearby.

"He then spoke to (the victim), gained his trust, and at some point, got up from the table, went down to a secluded area of the stacks and lured that little boy down there," prosecutor MaryClare Flynn said.

At the time of the 2008 attack, Saunders was a Level 3 sex offender on probation for the attempted rape of a 7-year-old boy in 2000.

Sutter's office said it sought a life sentence for Saunders in part because of the ages of the victims in both cases.

"The judge followed our recommendation, I believe, to the precise letter," Sutter said.

"(Saunders) is a danger to children in society. Not another a child nor family should go through the pain that we have endured," the victim's mother said in a statement.

Saunders will be eligible for parole after 15 years. If granted parole, he will be on probation and have to wear a GPS monitoring device for the rest of his life.

"The message is if you do it again and get caught, you are going to go way from the rest of your life. That is the message," Sutter said.

The library here is a half an hour walk away. I usually go to the first or second floor first. I've gotten to the point where I just expect it and head straight to the bathroom.

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