“A new kind of hell.”

That was the way the mother of a sex abuse victim described the ordeal that changed her daughter’s life and will send an Ironton man to prison for five years.

Joshua T. White, 30, of 302 N. Second St., Ironton, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and sexual battery from two separate indictments Wednesday in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court.

In addition to the prison sentence, Judge D. Scott Bowling also ordered White to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Authorities said White attended church with the then-14-year-old victim, whose mother called White a “true predator.” Assistant Lawrence County Prosecutor Brigham Anderson told the court he “couldn’t think of any worse form of sexual battery.”

The victim’s mother agreed, saying White first sought out her child who was particularly vulnerable because her father was seriously ill from substance abuse, and then, while promising the dying father he would take care of the child, abused her.

“It wasn’t like you just woke up one morning and became a sexual predator,” the mother said. (The Tribune does not print identifying information sexual abuse victims.) …He sought out my daughter and he pounced when he got the chance.”

White apologized to the victim, her family and his own, saying he was sorry for what he had done.

“I know it doesn’t mean a lot but I am sorry, truly sorry for what I’ve done,” White said. His attorney, Warren Morford, said White pleaded guilty spare the child the grief of testifying against him in court. The victim’s mother, who attended the court proceedings with family members and a prosecutor’s office victim’s advocate, was visibly angered by what had happened.

“I want him to go to Lucasville and I want him to be raped and be defenseless just like my daughter was,” she said.

Morford asked that his client remain on bond, a motion Anderson objected to given the seriousness of the crime. Bowling denied the request.