WBRZ - Baton Rouge

COVINGTON - A 37-year-old Picayune, Miss., man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for committing sexual battery on a young Louisiana girl.

Barton W. Naftzger Jr. was sentenced Tuesday by state District Judge William J. Burris in Covington.

Naftzger went to trial in August on a charge of aggravated rape and was found guilty of the lesser charge after a four-day trial. The 12-person jury deliberated for more than 5 hours before returning the verdict on Aug. 11.

Slidell police arrested Naftzger in September 2007 after a young girl told a family member that she had been molested. The abuse occurred in January of that year when the victim was 7.