LIVINGSTON - A man who was convicted of rape and other charges after a girl in foster care said her cries for help went ignored for years is now slated to spend the rest of his life in prison. 

John Mack, 77, was handed down a life sentence for the most severe of his charges Tuesday. Mack was convicted in July and only after the accusations against him went years without generating an arrest. 

The guardian of a teenager who was abused said that teen tried to get help for nearly a decade. During that time, she went through multiple forensic interviews as law enforcement entities investigated. 

"It's a great failure," said Latoyia Porter, an activist who sought help for Mack's victim. "We failed her for more than a decade. The abuse that she went through, she should have never had to endure it for that long."

Porter said nothing happened until she partnered with Eugene Collins with the Baton Rouge NAACP. That's when Mack was finally arrested.

"This child has been failed time and time again, and everyone is running away from taking fault for it," Collins said.

Mack is related to a state representative and a Livingston Parish councilman, though both say they've had no contact with him for more than a decade. The Louisiana Attorney General's Office prosecuted Mack after the Livingston Parish district attorney recused his office from the case.