Calhoun County authorities said the testimony of a child was crucial in the trial of a Jacksonville man who was sentenced this month to 218 years in prison for child sexual abuse.

Assistant District Attorney Jayme Amberson said William Randolph Reynolds, 57, was sentenced to two 99-year sentences for two counts of sodomy and 20 years for sexual abuse, all to run consecutively.

Reynolds was convicted in July. Prosecutors said he performed and received oral sex from a 7-year-old victim between August 2012 and May 2014.

"It's extremely difficult to try cases like this when you have victims this young," Amberson said in a phone interview. "There are a lot of obstacles, because generally the child is the only witness to the crime. And this victim was extremely courageous."