AUBURN – District Judge Julie Smith sentenced Wendy Groves, 57, of Auburn to six to 15 years in prison for sexual assault of a child.

She was sentenced to consecutive two to five years sentences on three counts. Prison time on three other counts would be served at the same time. Groves is also sentenced to lifetime sex offender registration.

At trial, Nemaha County Attorney Angelo Ligouri said Groves used her authority in her Auburn household for sexual contact in 2002 to 2004 with a girl who was then six to eight years old.

Ligouri said the girl came forward to authorities 15 years later out of concern for her siblings. Groves had adopted or fostered over a dozen children.

Defense attorney Keith Kollasch asked the court for a new trial, saying evidence from the Department of Health and Human Services did not surface until after the verdict.