A Niles teenager who was tried as adult after sexually assaulting a woman at gunpoint will be spending the next several years behind bars.

Judge Michael Dodge sentenced the 16-year-old defendant to a minimum term of three years to a maximum term of 15 years in prison during the teenager’s sentencing hearing in Cass County Court Friday morning. The defendant had previously pled guilty to the counts again him — second-degree criminal sexual conduct and assault with a dangerous weapon — during an appearance in court July 18.

According to the judge, the attack occurred March 16 at a business located on Yankee Street in Niles, when the defendant entered the shop and approached the victim, an employee of the business, engaging with her in conversation before he began groping her.

He then produced a pellet gun, modeled after a .357-caliber magnum and pointed it at her and ordered her to remove her shirt.

The woman then screamed for help. Her father, who was in the back of the business, came out to see what was happening, Dodge said. The defendant then fled from the scene.

The teenager had apparently visited the store twice that day before committing the offense on his third stop there, Dodge said.

“On the first two, you indicated you had thought about sexually assaulting the woman working in the store at the time, but you resisted the temptation,” Dodge said, addressing the defendant.

Initially tried as a juvenile, Probate Judge Susan Dobrich decided that due to the serious nature of the offense that the defendant be waived to circuit court to be adjudicated as an adult, Dodge said.

In spite of his age, the teenager has a past history of sexual misconduct, including a previous juvenile conviction for second-degree criminal sexual conduct, the judge said.

“He is a danger to society,” said Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz in his statement to the court Friday. “It is a sad thing to say about a 16-year-old, but that is just the reality.”

The teenager’s defense attorney, Robert Drake, said the defendant was also the victim of abuse and neglect when he was a child, and continues to have nightmares to this day about being removed from his home and his siblings for placement into foster care when he was 11 years old.

“That past informs the young man we find in front of us today,” Drake said. “There are a lot very troubling aspects of what that upbringing will create in a person.”

Drake also pointed out that the victim also showed some compassion to her attacker in a victim impact statement she made to the court, asking that the defendant receive help for his issues, he said.

The judge, though, said that the victim’s statement also asked that the teenager be sent to prison in order to protect others from his predatory behavior, Dodge said.

“The fact that you were previously convicted of criminal sexual conduct and now have been again leads the court to conclude that protection of society is an important consideration,” Dodge said. “I hope that you recognize that you need sex offender treatment, but need it in a structured setting.”

The defendant was given credit for 163 days credit for time already served behind bars.

Also sentenced Friday:

• Nathan James English, 18, of Vandalia, to 150 days in jail and two years of probation for second-degree home invasion.

• Ramiro Reeves Jr., 31, of Decatur, to two years of probation for fleeing from police.

• Anthony Michael Klein, 24, of Edwardsburg, to two years of probation for operating/maintaining a lab involving a firearm and for possession of methamphetamine.

• William Vincent Paplauskas, 32, of Edwardsburg, to 300 days in jail and two years of probation for fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

• Adam Tyler Lee, 22, of Dowagiac, to a minimum of two years to a maximum of seven years in prison for possession of sexually abusive material of a minor, using a computer to commit a crime and failure to register as sex offender.

• James Raymond Griffin, 47, of Eau Claire, to a minimum of 18 months to a maximum of 7.5 years in prison for a count of conspiracy possess stolen property more than $1,000 and possession of stolen property more than $1,000.