(Chatham, Va.) – A Ringgold man has been sentenced to life plus 289 years in a rape case involving a young girl.

A Chatham jury found Franklin Eugene Dalton guilty Tuesday of multiple counts of aggravated sexual battery, rape and forcible sodomy involving a child under the age of 13. The assaults are said to have started when the child was seven and continued for years. Dalton was arrested on November 27, 2017.

Dalton received life on the rape conviction, plus 25 years each on the eight counts of forcible sodomy, 10 years each on the eight counts of aggravated sexual battery, and three years each on the three charges of taking indecent liberties with a child.