A Chilton County man was sentenced early Wednesday to 15 years in prison for sodomizing a child.

Chilton County Judge Ben Fuller sentenced William Daniel Thompson, 47, to 15 years with the Alabama Department of Corrections after Thompson entered a plea agreement.

Part of the plea agreement from July 2012 was prosecutors would drop the rape and sex abuse charges filed against Thompson in exchange for pleading guilty to sodomizing a juvenile.

Thompson was originally charged with rape, sodomy and sexual abuse in early 2012 after the female victim, who was 10 at the time of the incident, told to a counselor that Thompson had raped, sodomized and sexually abused her in 2008.

Assistant District Attorney Brandon Bates said the victim was living with her mother at the time of the incident and Thompson was a friend of the victim’s mother.

“We are unclear as to the exact relationship between Thompson and the mom, but the victim ultimately disclosed that Thompson had committed those particular acts while the mother had left the house,” Bates said.

After the victim disclosed to a counselor the details of what Thompson had done, Chilton County Department of Human Resources (DHR) took the victim and placed her in fostering situations.

Bates said the victim no longer lives with the mother and she has since moved from Chilton County.

After DHR contacted the Chilton County Sheriff’s Department, investigator Jeff Cobb worked the case and managed to locate Thompson who was living with his mother in Maylene.

“After three weeks of looking for Thompson, I located him,” Cobb said. “He was brought to Chilton County and after about an hour of interrogation, he admitted to the charges and confessed everything.”

Bates said the victim’s mother was also questioned but due to details the victim disclosed to both law enforcement and DHR, the mother was found to not have any involvement with the crimes.

Standing in the courtroom on Wednesday with his head hanging down, Thompson stood inches away from the victim, now 15, along with the victim’s counselor and accepted the 15-year sentence.

Fuller told Thompson that he would make sure that Thompson was not released one-day short of the 15 years and told Thompson he thought the plea agreement was “very” fair.

Thompson was also sentenced to pay a $10,000 fine.

The court appointed attorney representing Thompson, David Karn, was unavailable for comment on Wednesday regarding the case.