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A 48-year-old Milwaukee woman was convicted Thursday of sexually assaulting two young boys and of charging other women money to molest one of them.

A jury deliberated less than two hours to find Beverly R. Holt guilty of five counts, based on the brothers' testimony in court and in forensic interviews with detectives in 2010. She faces up to 40 years in prison at her sentencing Feb. 13.

Holt's attorney, Martin Tanz, had told jurors the boys' stories, uncorroborated by other evidence, began as a 2-year-old's comment that turned into "a full-blown narrative of depravity" and never happened.

But Assistant District Attorney Miriam Falk argued that the boys were so young that it was unlikely they could have made up what happened to them. An expert in child sexual abuse had testified that children often delay telling anyone, especially if the perpetrator is someone they know, and tend to dribble facts out piecemeal over time. The expert also explained that the inconsistencies seen in the boys' statements to police and in court are not uncommon among young children.

The boys' mother, 36, testified that she had known Holt since she was 15 and dated Holt's brother. She described Holt as like a sister and the only person she trusted to watch her kids. She left them with Holt about eight times between 2008 and 2010, sometimes overnight.

In March 2010, the mother said, she was cooking when her youngest blurted out that Holt had performed a sex act on him in 2008. She called police and then asked her older son, who at first denied Holt had ever done anything bad, but then admitted she had performed sex acts on him in 2009. He said one time she even charged other women who then also molested him. He told police Holt took photos, but a search of her home's cameras, tapes and computer equipment revealed no inappropriate images.

The 6-year-old boy testified Wednesday and was hard to hear despite a microphone, and barely visible over the witness stand but for his bright red polo shirt. He nodded that he was embarrassed to say the word he used for his privates, but whispered "yes," when Falk asked if he had told his mother the truth.

In equally delicate cross-examination, the boy told Tanz that he didn't remember staying at Holt's house, but that he didn't want to go there at the time he told his mother Holt had abused him.

The jury had already heard from the boy's 7-year-old brother and saw recorded interviews with detectives trained in dealing with child sex abuse victims.

In his closing argument, Tanz pointed out that the older boy told police there 16 women in line to take turns with him, but said in court there were only two. He testified he was tied up, but didn't mention that in the police interview. The boy had also said he told his teacher about the abuse before he ever told his mother, but no one tried to interview the teacher.

In the police interview, the younger boy said Holt was white. She is African-American. He initially answered no when asked if he promised to tell the truth, and was only 2 when he said Holt had molested him.

"They were terrible witnesses," Tanz said.

He suggested their mother felt guilty about her hard, chaotic life and its impact on her sons, and was now trying to shift all her guilt to Holt.

Holt did not testify, but prosecutors played voice mails she left with the boys' mother after she called Holt's husband with the allegations. In the profanity-laced tirades, a drunken Holt admits to being an alcoholic and doing some crazy stuff but insists she would never molest the boys. Days later, she left much calmer messages, apologizing for the previous calls, and asking the mother to call her back and talk about the situation.