A Tamaqua man has been sentenced to state prison on charges that he molested two girls.

After listening to a tearful mother's description of how Harold Trevorah's sexual assaults on her then 7-year old daughter and granddaughter devastated their lives, a Schuylkill County judge sentenced Trevorah to eight to 20 years in state prison.

"At your age, that may be a life sentence," Judge John Domalakes told the 70-year old Trevorah.

Police first learned of the crimes last year when the mother of an 11-year-old girl called to report her daughter had been molested. The woman said she learned Trevorah had touched the genital area of two juvenile girls, including her daughter.

Officer Karl Harig spoke to Trevorah, who said he knew police had come to speak to him because he "had molested the two children."

Woods spoke to both victims, separately. Both girls said the touching had started years earlier, when they were 7. Neither told anyone about the touching because Trevorah had told them it "was their little secret."