COEUR d'ALENE - A 68-year-old Post Falls man was sentenced Friday to serve 15 years in prison for sexual battery and two counts of lewd conduct with a minor.

Theodore Edwin Guindon, who was sentenced by District Judge Richard Christensen, will be eligible for parole in seven years. According to a press release from the Kootenai County Prosecutor's Office, Guindon was found guilty of the charges after a two-day jury trial in August.

The charges, according to the release, stem from allegations that Guindon sexually abused a child, who was 4 to 10 years old, over the course of six years.

Guindon has prior convictions for lewd conduct in 1976 and the release states that Christensen took those into consideration when determining prison time was appropriate in the current case.

County Prosecutor Barry McHugh praised the efforts of law enforcement officers who investigated the case, stating that it can be "difficult" to prosecute cases where the criminal conduct occurred years before charges were filed.

"Credit goes to the victim in this matter, who came forward and willingly cooperated in the investigation," McHugh wrote. "The sentence was appropriate given the unconscionable nature of the offense and the predatory conduct of the defendant."