A child molester who assaulted three preteen girls beginning in 1999 was sentenced to life in prison by a Harris County jury, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Friday.

“This predator attacked the children of his friends and acquaintances, and even took advantage of them after meeting them in church, where they should have been safest,” Ogg said. “He stole the innocence from these young girls to satisfy his own desires and now he’ll never again be a threat to any child anywhere.”

Andrew Pete, 51, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday after a week-long trial in which he was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14.

Pete, who represented himself at trial, was convicted of repeatedly assaulting a 12-year-old who was the daughter of a family friend in 2014 through 2015. He had met her while they were at church. She made an outcry in May 2015.

Houston Police investigators learned that Pete had been accused of sexually assaulting another child under 14-year-old multiple times in Dallas County in 2003 and 2004. He was convicted of that offense in 2015.

Another victim, who was also the daughter of a close family friend, accused the defendant in 2004 of sexually abusing her starting in 1999 when she was 12-years-old in Temple, Texas. Jurors this week heard testimony from that victim while weighing Pete’s punishment.

Assistant District Attorney Edward Appelbaum, and ADA Janna Oswald, both of whom are assigned to the Crimes Against Children Division, prosecuted the case and noted that Pete was on bail in Dallas County when he committed his crimes in Harris County.

“He was a human wrecking ball going from city to city just destroying families and leaving them to pick up the pieces,” Appelbaum said. “He was able to ingratiate himself with three different families and develop that trust in order to do the unthinkable.”