CANYON CITY — More than a year after his arrest on child sex crimes and other charges, a 45-year-old Ontario man has pleaded no contest to five counts in a deal that could send him to prison for more than 16 years.

James Warren Eaton entered the plea Friday, Sept. 2, in Grant County Circuit Court. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Rob Raschio in a hearing on Thursday, Sept. 8.

Eaton was arrested in July 2021 and lodged in the Grant County Jail. In a grand jury indictment, he was charged with 15 crimes, including three counts each of first-degree kidnapping, first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree sodomy.

All of the crimes were alleged to have taken place in Grant County during the month of June 2021, and all involved a single victim, a girl under the age of 12 who was known to Eaton.

Eaton pleaded no contest to five counts, including three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, a Measure 11 offense that carries a presumptive mandatory minimum sentence of 75 months in prison.

If served end to end, those three sentences would add up to 225 months. Under terms of the plea agreement filed with the court, Eaton would have to serve at least 200 months, or 16 years and eight months, behind bars without the possibility of early release, followed by post-prison supervision for the rest of his life.

Eaton was represented by defense attorney John B. Lamborn, of Burns. Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter prosecuted the case.

In 1997, Eaton was accused of five sex crimes in Jefferson County, according to court documents that listed his city of residence at the time as John Day. He was found guilty except for insanity of one count of first-degree rape and was placed under the jurisdiction of the state Psychiatric Security Review Board for up to 20 years, according to documents filed with the court.