A Vicksburg man was convicted Friday by a Warren County jury on multiple sex abuse charges after a week-long jury trial in Circuit Court

Ninth Judicial District Attorney Ricky Smith said James Willie Ross Jr., 47, a registered sex offender, was convicted on three counts of sexual abuse and one count of statutory rape involving two children under the age of 12.

He said Canary Johnson, 36, the children’s mother and an acquaintance of Ross, pleaded guilty earlier to one count of child neglect because she admitted she was aware of the sex abuse to the children, who were ages 6 and 7 at the time. Johnson was initially charged with two counts of child neglect.

Ross and Johnson gave their address at the time of their arrests as 5041 Mississippi 27.

“This has been the third sex abuse case we’ve had involving young children,” Smith said.

“This one has been the most egregious case we ever had,” he said.

The arrests were result of an investigation by Warren County sheriff’s investigators into a tip that two children were being sexually abused at a home in Warren County.

Johnson was arrested Jan. 5. Ross turned himself in to investigator Stacy Rollinson Jan. 12, ending a search for him that began Jan. 4 and included several Mississippi counties.