SHALOTTE, N.C. (WECT) — A former Shallotte police officer is heading to prison after pleading guilty to statutory rape.

Braxton Rushawn Strickland, 26, pleaded guilty to the charge in Brunswick County Superior Court Tuesday and was sentenced to three to nine years in prison.

According to officials, Strickland was an officer with the Shallotte Police Department at the time of the incidents, in which he engaged in a sexual relationship with a female victim between 14 and 16 years old.

The SBI investigated the case for several months and a Brunswick County grand jury indicted Strickland in October 2015. He was taken into custody shortly after the indictments.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, the victim was present at Tuesday’s plea hearing and gave an impact statement. Additionally, the victim asked the court to consider Strickland’s active sentence and not require him to serve jail time.

“Justice in any case is based upon the facts of that particular case,” said Jamie Turnage, assistant district attorney. “In this case, we had a young victim who repeatedly asked not to be put through a trial. This result accomplishes a felony conviction, an active sentence, sex offender registration, satellite-based monitoring, the loss of (Strickland’s) law enforcement certification and a ruling that the defendant have no contact with the victim.”Copyright 2016 WECT. All rights reserved.