WISE, Va. — A Wise County man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual abuse charges.

John Patton Hensley Head, 39, of Big Stone Gap, entered an Alford plea to multiple counts of sexual battery, indecent liberties with children, and sexual object penetration.

Under an Alford plea, a defendant maintains his innocence, but admits there is enough evidence to convict him. It functions as a guilty plea.

Head became the caretaker of two children in 2012 and soon thereafter began to molest the oldest child, who was 7 at the time. He also began molesting the younger child, when she was 10. During the investigation, a third victim under the age of 6 was discovered.

The abuse was discovered in 2019, when the oldest victim learned through a sex education class at school what he was doing to her and reported it to a friend.