A judge sentenced a Virginia man to three and a half to 15 years in state prison followed by three years of probation after a jury found him guilty earlier this year of assaulting two young girls at two different Lancaster County homes more than 20 years.

Judge Jeffrey Conrad handed down the sentence to Jacob Lee Smyth, of Woodlawn, Va., on July 1. A jury had found Smyth guilty of two counts of unlawful contact with a minor, two counts of indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age and two counts of corruption of minors following a three-day trial in January.

Smyth, 45, assaulted the victims at two different county residences beginning around 2004, when he was in his early 20s. 

One of the victims, now 30, testified during the trial that Smyth assaulted her at a residence in the 300 block of Little Britain Church Road when she was between the ages of 8 and 12.

Assistant District Attorney Fritz Haverstick, who prosecuted the case, told the court that Smyth presented himself as a “savior” and “father figure” to the victim, but evidence showed his true intentions were to sexually abuse her.

A second victim, now 26, told the jury Smyth came home drunk in the middle of the night and assaulted her while she slept on the floor at a different home in the first block of Scheller Road in Providence Township. The victim would have been about 12 or 13 years old at the time. 

Though Smyth made some admissions to wrongdoing to police, he refused to take responsibility and accused the victims of being liars in court prior to being sentenced. 

Conrad told Smyth he was “disappointed” in his comments, noting that what hurt the victims the most was being called liars, and said he earned “every bit” of his sentence. 

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Brian McNally filed the charges.