A Dowagiac man who sexually assaulted three children living in his home last year will spend the next quarter-century in a Michigan prison cell.

Cass County Circuit Court Judge Mark Herman sentenced 48-year-old James Walter White Jr. to a minimum of 25 years in prison during the man’s appearance in Cass County court Friday. White was punished for two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and a count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, crimes he pleaded guilty to Jan. 30.

According to the judge, the charges stem from the sexual abuse White committed against two 12-year-olds and a 14-year-old from July 1 to Dec. 31, while the children were living with the man at his residence on Downey Street in Silver Creek Township.

The mother of one of White’s victims addressed the court that morning. The woman admonished the man for the abuse he committed against her child and the other victims, saying she was glad she had a role in having him brought to justice and that “dying would have been too easy for you.”

“You will not destroy us,” she said to the defendant. “We will not be your victims.”

Assistant Prosecutor Tiffiny Vohwinkle asked the judge to accept the plea agreement White had made with the prosecutor’s office in January, where he agreed to serve at least 25 years behind bars in exchange for the prosecutor dropping several other second- and fourth-degree CSC charges he was facing.

Vohwinkle added that the victims are still reeling from the abuse they endured, and that nothing the court did that morning could erase their experiences or ease their pain.

“There is no better place for Mr. White than prison,” Vohwinkle said. “He left a wake of victims in his path. They will forever have to deal with what he did to them. He will have a reminder every day, as the cell door shuts on him, of what horrible things he did to them.”

Herman agreed to sentence White per the conditions of his plea deal. After delivering his decision, Herman told the defendant that, unlike most of his cases, he did not have any words of encouragement or advice he could share with him.

“There is nothing we can do change what has happened here,” Herman said. “You will have a long time to think about it. I hope you can get yourself help.”

White was given 104 days credit already served.

Also sentenced Friday:

• Denard Ramon Croom, 39, of Vandalia, to two years of probation and 300 days in jail for operating while intoxicated. Croom may serve his jail sentence on tether.

• Aaron Timothy-Michael Mihm, 27, of Cassopolis, to a minimum of one year and 11 months to a maximum of five years in prison for unlawfully driving away an automobile.

• Preston Ray Gallimore, 43, of Dowagiac, to 270 days in jail and two years of probation for operating/maintaining a lab involving methamphetamine and for operating/maintaining a lab involving hazardous waste.

• Amanda Ellen O’Connor, 34, of Niles, to two years of probation for delivery/manufacturing of marijuana and maintaining a drug house.

• Andrea Jane Sutfin, of Niles, to two years of probation for possession of methamphetamine, possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana.