A Warren County man convicted in September of molesting a 4-year-old child will spend the next 15 years in prison.

Circuit Judge M. James Chaney Thursday sentenced Thomas Gabriel, 47, as a habitual offender, giving him the maximum penalty of 15 years.

Gabriel was convicted Sept. 29 by a 12-member jury after a three-day trial. The jury found him not guilty on a second charge of sexual battery.

Gabriel, whose address was listed as 1650 China Grove Road at the time of his arrest, surrendered to Warren County investigator Stacy Rollison on the charge.

He was arrested after the sheriff’s office received a report of a child younger than 12 being “touched inappropriately by an adult,” Sheriff Martin Pace said at the time of Gabriel’s arrest.

District Attorney Ricky Smith said the molestation occurred several times between November 2014 and Gabriel’s arrest in March 2015.