DAYTONA BEACH — A shaken young girl holding a large knife led to the arrest and conviction of a homeless man who now faces up to life in prison for fondling the girl and asking to perform oral sex on her, according to a press release.

Jerome McCray, 61, was found guilty of lewd/lascivious molestation by a person over 18 to a victim under 12, which is punishable by up to life in prison with a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years, according to the press release from the State Attorney’s Office.

McCray was also found guilty of attempted lewd/lascivious molestation by a person over 18 to a victim under 12, a first-degree felony, and lewd/lascivious conduct by a person over 18, a second-degree felony.

A jury deliberated for about two hours on Tuesday before returning the guilty verdicts in the two-day trial before Circuit Judge Kathryn D. Weston. Sentencing is set for June 6.

McCray had already been convicted in 1991 of lewd/lascivious assault upon a child.

Assistant State Attorney Erica Kane presented the evidence to the jurors about the incident last summer. The girl’s mother had a busy work week so the child and her sister were staying with a woman in Daytona Beach on July 7. McCray, who is homeless, would watch TV at the apartment and he arrived about 8 a.m. that day to watch tennis, the woman said.

The woman left about three hours later to deposit money in her boyfriend’s jail account. She took one of the girls with her but left the other alone with McCray. When she returned she found that the girl was sitting on the couch and appeared shaken as she held a large knife.

The girl said that after the woman had left McCray had walked out of a bedroom and asked her if she “can she keep a secret.” McCray then took a blanket she was using from the couch. McCray then reached under her shirt and fondled her breasts. She pushed him away.

McCray then tried to remove her panties saying he wanted to perform oral sex. The girl pushed him away again and threatened to tell someone and asked him to leave. McCray left, instructing her “not to tell anybody” and “lock the door.”

Police caught up with McCray while he was at work for a labor pool in Edgewater and arrested him.