Associated Press

KEOKUK, Ia. — A southeast Iowa jury on Friday found a former boarding school director guilty of abusing students, days after he tearfully testified that he hadn't hurt any children.

The jury found Benjamin Trane guilty of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a child by a counselor and child endangerment, according to the Burlington Hawk Eye. The jury didn't find Trane guilty of a more serious charge, third-degree sexual assault, which could have meant a 10-year prison sentence.

The nine-man, three-woman jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.

Trane will be sentenced early next year and could face up to nine years in prison.

Trane was the owner and director of Midwest Academy in Keokuk. The school was closed in January 2016 after being raided by federal, state and local officials, prompting about 100 students to be sent home or to other schools.

Earlier in the trial, Trane had at times tearfully rejected charges he sexually and physically abused children at the school.

Asked about testimony that he'd abused students, Trane told jurors Wednesday, "It's absolutely not the truth."

On Friday, Trane, 39, remained stoic as District Judge Mark Kruse read the verdict. Several supporters of Trane in the courtroom choked back tears.

Last month, a Lee County judge awarded a default judgment to several former Midwest students and their parents in a separate civil lawsuit. A hearing to establish damages has yet to be held.

The former students alleged widespread abuse and mistreatment at the expensive former facility for troubled teens, including beatings, sex between students and staff, sex among students, forced silence and ignored pleas for medical attention.

The school routinely kept teens in isolation in 6-foot-by-8-foot rooms for weeks, requiring them to sit for hours on end in specific postures with little food.

The civil lawsuit also accused Trane of ordering girls to undress in front of two mirrors and to come out and tell him their body type.