WELLSBURG — A Weirton man Monday was sentenced to 30 to 60 years of incarceration for the sexual abuse of a child in his care.

Joshua Hoit, 39, also was sentenced to 50 years of supervised probation following his release from prison by 1st Judicial Circuit Court Judge Jason Cuomo.

Hoit pleaded guilty earlier to three counts of sexual abuse by a custodian, a felony charge involving inappropriate sexual contact by an adult with a minor in their care.

More than 60 counts of the crime, alleged to have occurred during a three-year period, were dismissed through a plea agreement reached by Hoit’s attorney, Donald Humberson, and Brooke County Prosecutor Allison Cowden.

For each of the three counts, Hoit faced 10 to 20 years.

At a sentencing hearing on Monday, Humberson sought concurrent sentences for his client, meaning Hoit would serve no more than 10 to 20 years.

Humberson said Hoit was himself a victim of sexual abuse as well as physical and mental abuse as a youth and currently treats mental health issues with medication.

The attorney added Hoit is willing to undergo sexual offender counseling as part of the supervised probation.

Humberson said while there were plans to take the case to trial, Hoit chose not to because he didn’t want to cause trauma for the victim.

Hoit offered an apology during the hearing, saying, “There aren’t any words to express for everything that happened. If I could take it all back, I would. I don’t want to cause anybody any pain.”

Cowden recommended the three consecutive 10 to 20 year sentences for Hoit, saying she was disturbed by earlier statements in which he appeared to her to lay partial blame on the victim.

She said the victim has undergone counseling on an almost weekly basis as a result of Hoit’s actions.