A 29-year-old Freestone county man pleaded guilty to charges of indecency with a child, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault in 87th District Court last week and has been sentenced to life in prison.

The defendant, Terry L. McGinn, entered pleas on the four felony charges Thursday afternoon before District Judge Deborah Evans.

Judge Evans agreed with recommendations made by County Attorney Chris Martin and worked out in a plea bargain.

Family members of the victim, a 7-year-old girl, also concurred with the plea bargain arrangement.

"Mr. McGinn, you committed a horrible crime," the judge declared. "I hope they keep you there, because I believe you are a menace to society."

The defendant was sentenced to a pair of life terms in prison on the indecency with a child charges and a pair of 20-year prison terms on the charges of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping.

The sentences, which are the maximum allowed on each charge, are to be served concurrently.

"This means he will spend the greater part of his life, or the rest of his life, in prison," Judge Evans says.

McGinn was charged in the Sept. 2008 kidnapping and assault of a 7-year-old girl from her grandparent's home in the Wildwood housing subdivision east of Fairfield.

Former Freestone County Sheriff's Office criminal investigator Bobby Rachel reported at the time that the victim was discovered missing from her bedroom when her grandparents went to wake her for school, and that a screen had been removed from a window of the house.

Deputies, police, volunteer firefighters and citizens canvassed the area looking for the girl, and a check was made of school buses by the school resource officer.

Officers also contacted persons with whom the girl was acquainted, family members and friends, and went to McGinn's resident about one and one-half miles away because he was a "person of interest."

Rachel and Sgt. Thomas Hendrix discovered the 7- year-old in a back bedroom of McGinn's residence. The defendant is an uncle of the victim.

The girl was taken to Tyler for a medical examination that determined she had been sexually assaulted.

In a series of victim impact statements made after sentencing, the mother of the victim declared: "I don't see how you did your niece like you did. I hope you rot where you're going."