A 27-year-old Cobb County man will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to raping and sexually exploiting an infant who was just one month old when the abuse began.

Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard sentenced Marcel Moreland on Thursday, Aug. 20, to life without the possibility of parole plus 490 years, according to the Cobb County District Attorney's Office. Moreland entered a non-negotiated guilty plea to 25 felony counts, including rape, child molestation, incest and repeated sexual exploitation of an infant.

A non-negotiated plea means the defendant accepted guilt without any agreement from prosecutors on sentencing, leaving the punishment entirely to the judge.

The female victim was repeatedly abused starting at one month old. The abuse continued until she was six months old.

Officials have not publicly disclosed the relationship between Moreland and the infant or how authorities first uncovered the crimes.

District Attorney Sonya F. Allen said prosecutors sought a sentence that would ensure Moreland could never harm another child.

"This sentence sends a clear message: if you prey upon our children, we will pursue you with every tool the law gives us," Allen said following the sentencing, as reported by WSB-TV.

Allen called the case one that "shocks the conscience" and praised Assistant District Attorney Brittany Hutton and her trial team for carrying "the heavy responsibility of speaking in court for a child, a baby, who could not speak for herself." Hutton prosecuted the case on behalf of the state.

The sentence is among the most severe handed down in Cobb County. Life without parole means Moreland has no possibility of release.