The state Superior Court has upheld the sentence of a Lackawanna County man convicted of raping two little boys he was baby-sitting in McAdoo.

Clark Emmanuel Mead Jr. must serve the 27 1/2 to 55-year sentence imposed by Schuylkill County President Judge William E. Baldwin, the three-judge panel ruled.Mead was left to baby-sit by the boys' mother, with whom he lived in McAdoo, while she was at work.About a month after Mead moved out, the older boy told his mother what had happened, and that Mead had threatened to hurt them if they told anyone.Their mother took them to live with an aunt a few months later.She told the aunt they had been abused, and asked her to take them to the Children and Youth Services Agency.The mother then abandoned the boys, and the aunt assumed guardianship.Mead, who had been charged by McAdoo police on Dec. 21, 2011, was convicted on June 5, 2012, of six counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault, and of corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children.During two days of testimony, the jury found that he had abused the boys, who were 4 and 5 years old at the time, repeatedly in the last few months of 2005 and the first few months of 2006.Baldwin imposed the sentence on Sept. 27, declaring Mead a sexually violent predator. The status requires Mead to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life under Megan's Law.On Dec. 24, 2012, Mead challenged the conviction, arguing that the jury's verdict was "against the weight of evidence."Mead argued there was insufficient physical evidence, that the children had failed to appear for an administrative hearing, that they were incompetent to testify, and that allowing the jury to see photographs of the boys at the ages when they were assaulted prejudiced the panel.In its 16-page opinion, filed on July 29, the Superior Court judges disagreed."Indeed, considering the voluminous evidence presented against (Mead) at trial, we agree with the trial court that the verdict in this matter does not shock one's sense of justice," they wrote.