An Edinburg man was sentenced to 80 years in prison on Friday following his conviction on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child and indecency with a child by contact.

According to a news release from the office of Hidalgo County Criminal district Attorney Toribio “Terry” Palacios, Andres Lopez Flores, 45, was arrested after an investigation that began on January 2020 revealed he had sexually assaulted a child “over the course of several years.”

Flores was sentenced to 60 years on a charge of continuous sexual abuse of a child and 20 years for the indecency with a child by contact charge. The sentences will run consecutively, the news release added.

As part of his sentence, Flores was charged $20,000.

“The jury’s verdict is an unequivocal statement that the Hidalgo County community will not tolerate those who prey on our most vulnerable population,” Palacios stated in the news release.