A Bowling Green man faces a 45-year prison sentence after being convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse related to allegations involving three juvenile victims going back decades.

James Dixon, 71, was found guilty by a jury on a count of first-degree sodomy (victim younger than 12) and three counts of first-degree sexual abuse (victim younger than 12) after a two-day trial last week in Warren Circuit Court.

The jury recommended Dixon serve 25 years on the sodomy count, 10 years on one of the sexual abuse charges and five years each for the other two sexual abuse counts, with Dixon to serve the sentences consecutively for a total sentence of 45 years.

Dixon was indicted on the charges in 2019 after a Kentucky State Police investigation.

The indictment accused Dixon of engaging in a continuing course of conduct that led to the abuse of three juveniles younger than 12.

Now adults, the three women identified as victims were in Dixon’s care at the time the abuse is reported to have occurred.

At the trial, each woman testified about being molested on numerous occasions by Dixon at his home when they were children.

Jurors considered evidence that one of the victims was sexually abused between September 1984 and September 1991, another victim was abused between August 2006 and August 2013 and was sodomized between Aug. 20, 2006, and Dec. 30, 2011, and a third victim was abused between Jan. 1, 2008, and Oct. 3, 2009.

The prosecution’s case hinged largely on the testimony of the three people named as victims.

Warren County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Kim Geoghegan, who prosecuted the case, said the length of time between the abusive acts and the disclosure to authorities presented a challenge in trying the case.

“The difficulty is asking victims to remember abuse that occurred years prior,” Geoghegan said. “It’s difficult for victims to relive that abuse again. A lot of victims try not to think about that abuse, and we are asking victims to try to remember everything that happened and relay those details to the jury.”

One of the victims testified that she disclosed Dixon’s past abusive behavior against her to a relative in 2016, according to video footage from the trial.

That relative testified that she contacted another person related to her who she knew had spent the night at Dixon’s home numerous times as a child, learning from her that she had been abused as well.

With this information, she told jurors she called Dixon and confronted him about the allegations. When she asked Dixon whether he molested the two people when they were juveniles, she testified that Dixon replied that he was not going to answer that question, according to trial footage.

Kentucky State Police was then contacted, and the first two people identified as victims were interviewed by KSP Detective Jason Lanham.

Further police investigation led to the discovery of the third victim, who reported being molested by Dixon when she was a child in his care in the 1980s.

Dixon, represented by attorney Dennie Hardin, testified in his own defense at the trial, denying all the allegations against him.

This case was prosecuted under a Kentucky statute covering offenses against a vulnerable victim in a continuing course of conduct, which in this instance entails offenses against a victim younger than 14.

Under the statute, a conviction occurs only when a jury finds that a defendant committed two or more acts of a single offense during a specified period of time against a vulnerable victim.

Kentucky has no statute of limitations for the prosecution of felonies.

“There are challenges in delayed reports (of crimes), but that doesn’t mean a case cannot be prosecuted,” Geoghegan said.

– Follow courts reporter Justin Story on Twitter @jstorydailynews or visit bgdailynews.com.