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A former Freeborn County man was sentenced to a combined 33 years in prison on Friday tied to sexual abuse of two boys dating back to 2011 in Freeborn County.

A jury in July found David Bernard Suess Sr., 47, guilty of all six counts of criminal sexual conduct against him tied to the abuse, which reportedly took place between 2011 and 2015.

District Court Judge Christy Hormann said there was no amount of time in prison that could undo what took place and told Suess that his actions have had a lasting impact, not only on the two boys, who are now adults, but also on their mother and others.

“You have destroyed their childhood,” Hormann said in issuing the sentence. “You have destroyed their young adulthood.”

For the first victim, Suess was convicted of four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving penetration of a victim under 13 by a defendant more than 36 months older than the victim and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving multiple acts over time.

For the second victim, Suess was convicted of one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct of a victim under 13 by a defendant more than 36 months older.

Court documents state in one instance Suess reportedly threatened he would kill them and others if they didn’t comply. One victim stated he was scared when Suess would say these things, and that is why he didn’t say anything. Suess was known to the victims.

Assistant Freeborn County Attorney Abigail Ehret said what the two victims had to endure was unimaginable and included not only sexual abuse but physical abuse and mental and emotional manipulation. The abuse occurred after the victims’ mother left for work.

A third victim also testified at trial, and Suess had a prior criminal sexual conduct allegation involving a fourth victim, as well as convictions for malicious punishment of a child, domestic assault and assault, among others, she said.

Ehret asked the court to consider consecutive sentences for each of the counts totaling 724 months, while Suess’ lawyer, John Lundstad-Vogt Brooks, argued for a combined 208 months.

Before Ehret’s arguments, she read victim impact statements from each of the victims, and the victims’ mother also spoke of how Suess had changed their lives.

The mother spoke of how her sons suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety tied to the abuse and said she is haunted by knowing what happened to her children.

“His actions changed our world forever,” she said.

She said the family has had to live in fear and has been terrified to even leave their home, and the boys often suffer nightmares.

She said she has a hard time trusting anyone and said she has spent a lot of time praying that their lives will still work out, saying they should not have to worry about ever running into him or have fear that he will retaliate.

“I do know we will not let him win,” she said.

One of the boys is going to college for psychology in hopes of helping other children someday who have endured the same thing he did.

“No person, no kid should go through what my brother and I endured,” one of the victims wrote.

Hormann said in the pre-sentence investigation and psychosexual evaluation Suess seemed to downplay his involvement and did not understand the gravity of his past. She said in looking at these charges as well as his prior criminal history it seemed Suess had a disregard for people and their safety and privacy.

She described his actions against the two boys as “unimaginable” and “unacceptable.”

Suess will serve two-thirds of the sentence in prison and the remainder of the time on supervised release. He will also be on a lifetime conditional release.

Suess will receive credit for 600 days already served in jail.