VIDALIA — A Vidalia man was sentenced Thursday for four counts of aggravated incest.

Charles D. Ables was initially arrested in January 2007, and when he went to trial in October 2009 he was charged with four counts of aggravated incest. The case involved one victim.

After a day-and-a-half at trial, Ables changed his initial plea of “not guilty” to “no contest,” which carries the same penalties as a conviction but does not require the defendant to admit guilt.

During the sentencing hearing before Judge Glenn Gremillion, the mother of the victim gave a statement, and a pre-sentencing investigation into the facts of the case was filed into the court record and sealed.

The minimum sentence for aggravated incest is five years per count, and Gremillion sentenced Ables to five years per count, to run concurrently. The sentences were suspended and Ables was placed on five years active supervised probation.

In addition to having to register as a sex offender and paying all court fees, he will be required to serve six months in the parish prison. Gremillion recommended Ables be placed in the work release program in order to support his family and pay child support through the work release program.

Likewise, he will have to pay for counseling up to $7,000 for the victim.

District Attorney Brad Burget said he did not have any legal complaint with the sentence, but that he was not pleased with it. The maximum possible sentence was 20 years per count with or without hard labor.

“It was a legal sentence, but of course we were pushing for a more intense sentence, but that was the discretion of the judge, so I have no legal complaint,” Burget said.

“We were pleased it ended in a conviction, and we were pleased the child did not have to endure the agony of reliving what the events that happened.”

“We feel the actions Mr. Ables did far exceed the sentence he got.”

Ables’ ultimate placement in the work release program will be up to the agency running the jail facility, in this case the sheriff’s office, Burget said.

“The judge can make that recommendation, but how (Ables) serves that is up to the sheriff,” Burget said. “The judge made the recommendation but whether the sheriff will allow that is out of the court’s hands.”

When released, Ables will be required to stay away from the victim.

Ables has two years to seek post conviction relief.