YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – A Sebring man who’s been in jail since 2021 is now on his way to prison after pleading guilty in a child rape case.

Michael Vanhorn pleaded guilty to two counts of rape. The horror experienced by his two young victims went on for years. And as Vanhorn sat in court awaiting his sentencing, one of those victims told Judge John Durkin the assaults continued almost daily — until Vanhorn was finally arrested six years later.

“September 7 of 2015 was the first day he ever raped me,” the victim said at Vanhorn’s sentencing.

Now 14 years old, the young victim tried to explain what she lost.

“It drives me crazy to think about it every day because I remember every memory,” she said. “I didn’t have a childhood. He took away from me — and honestly, I wish I would get those days back.”

Vanhorn openly admitted what he did.

“I raped her time and time again from the time that she was 5 years old,” Vanhorn said.

Vanhorn apologized to his victims, hoping they can forgive him one day.

The Judge admitted what he’d just heard left him at a loss for words, saying he couldn’t imagine the trauma the victims endured.

“The one thing I do not have the power to do, and I wish I did, was to turn back the hands of time,” Judge Durkin said.

He then sentenced Vanhorn to up to 27 years and six months behind bars.

Vanhorn’s wife, Kara Vanhorn, was charged with child endangering in the case. She was sentenced separately to one year of probation.