A China Grove man will spend up to 21 years in prison after being convicted of molesting a child multiple times.

Daniel Lynn Bowlin, 24, was convicted by a jury this week in Rowan County Criminal Superior Court of three counts of felony first degree sexual offense with a child, District Attorney Brandy Cook said in a news release.   

The victim and her family reported that she had been molested by Bowlin to the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office in 2012. The crimes happened when the victim was 6 years old and Bowlin was 15, the news release said.

The victim told investigators that Bowlin lived across the street from her family, and her parents agreed to let Bowlin stay with them because he was not getting along with his parents.

The victim told authorities Bowlin molested her several times when her parents were at work or asleep. Bowlin told the little girl not to tell anyone and threatened that if she did, something bad would happen. 

The victim said she had nightmares about what Bowlin had done to her. She eventually told her parents and they reported it to law enforcement. 

During the investigation, detectives spoke with Bowlin, who admitted to molesting the victim, the news release said.

Judge W. David Lee sentenced Bowlin to a minimum of 16 years and 10 months in prison up to a maximum of 21 years. Bowlin was also ordered to submit to mandatory lifetime satellite-based monitoring and will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. 

Cook said in the news release she appreciated the work of investigators and Assistant District Attorney Barrett Poppler, who prepared the case for trial.

“It can be extremely difficult for victims of these types of crimes to come forward and tell strangers what happened. However, in this case, the victim testified against her attacker at trial and our office was able to seek justice on her behalf,” Cook said.

Bowlin has previously been convicted of felony first degree burglary, felony larceny, felony possession of burglary tools, among other crimes.