A Tamaqua area man was sentenced to a state prison term in Carbon County court on sexual assault charges that stem from incidents that occurred about a decade ago.

Dustin Brian Shields, 26, of 503 Ben Titus Road, in Rush Township, was sentenced by Judge Joseph J. Matika to serve two to four years in a state correction institution followed by two years of state probation. Shields previously pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault.In exchange for the plea charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and terroristic threats were dropped.Shields, as per the provisions of Megan's Law, has to register for the rest of his life as a sexual offender.He was charged on Sept. 25, 2013, by Nesquehoning police with incidents that occurred in the fall of 2001-02.On June 26, 2013, officer Dane O'Brien was contacted by the Carbon County Children & Youth office regarding an alleged sexually related incident that was reported to the agency earlier.The father of the victim said his daughter informed him that she was forced to have sexual relations with Shields at her then Nesquehoning home. The incidents occurred when she was 3 to 6 years of age.On July 2, 2013, the girl was interviewed by the Children's Advocacy Center in Scranton. She told the interviewers that Shields forced her perform a sex act with him on multiple occasions in her Nesquehoning home.She was asked why she did not report the incidents after they occurred and she said Shields had threatened to kill her if she told anyone.On Sept. 6, 2013, Shields was interviewed by O'Brien, during which the suspect admitted performing the sex act with the girl on two occasions in the fall of 2001-02 when he was 12 to 13 years old.Shields entered the plea on Sept. 14, the day he was scheduled to go on trial on the charges.Matika also ordered Shields to undergo a sexual offenders evaluation, get a drug and alcohol evaluation and follow any recommendation for treatment, zero tolerance imposed on drug and alcohol use, supply a DNA sample, have no contact with the victim or her family, pay court costs of about $1,000 and pay restitution of $1,085.He was given credit for 355 days already spent in prison on the charges.