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DECATUR — An Oreana man prosecutors described as a sexual predator who befriended children before assaulting them was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday.

Brian A. Thompson, 49, was convicted of three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse after a three-day bench trial in Macon County Circuit Court in July. He was also convicted of one count of solicitation to meet a child, and Judge Jeffrey Geisler sentenced him to an additional three years on that charge, but ordered the sentence to run concurrently with the five-year sentence.

Assistant State’s Attorney Kate Kurtz argued for a long sentence to shield children from Thompson, who had preyed on teenage and preteen girls who lived in his neighborhood. Kurtz said an offender evaluation report on Thompson had shown him to be unrepentant with a high risk of offending again.

Public defender Thomas Wheeler argued for a noncustodial sentence that would allow Thompson an opportunity to get psychological counseling and treatment. Wheeler also suggested, as he had in the bench trial, that Thompson had not been entirely to blame, and that some of the children involved had been “very forward” in their behavior.