A Gravette man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting a girl.

Alvin John Jackson, 33, pleaded guilty Monday to sexual assault in the first degree, a Class A felony. He was originally charged with rape, a Class Y felony, but agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge under a plea agreement his attorney Mike Roberson reached with Stuart Cearley, chief deputy prosecutor.

Jackson was arrested March 7, 2013. The Benton County Sheriff's Office received a report in March 2013 from the Crimes Against Children Hotline, according to court documents. The report concerned the rape of a 9-year-old girl, according to court documents.

The girl was interviewed at the Children's Advocacy Center of Benton County. She described details of being abused by Jackson and the girl said the abuse began when she was 4-years-old, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The judge accepted the plea agreement and Jackson's guilty plea.

Jackson was sentenced to 15 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Cearley told the judge that it is likely that Jackson will have to serve all of the sentence because Jackson was convicted of a similar offense in California.

Jackson received 390 days of jail credit for the time he spent in custody awaiting his trial.

He must pay $2,120 in court associated costs.

Jackson will be required to register as a sex offender.

He was ordered not to have any contact with the victim. He also can not have any unsupervised contact with any minors.