A former Pymatuning Township man who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two teenage girls and a woman was sentenced Tuesday to 5 to 17 years in state prison.

Mark A. "Dusty" Bragg, 42, of Johns Island, S.C., pleaded guilty Oct. 21 to one count of statutory sexual assault, a second-degree felony; one count of sexual assault, a second-degree felony; and one count of recklessly endangering another person, a misdemeanor. Bragg faced a maximum of 22 years in jail.

Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Thomas R. Dobson presided at the sentencing.

Bragg's attorney, Wes Rowden of Meadville, offered letters from Bragg's current employer and from an "ex-paramour" to present "a full picture of the person, not evidenced from the affidavits."

Bragg, he said, is hardworking, employed and have people who depend on him.

According to affidavits, Bragg forced the women to watch sexual acts and perform sexual acts on each other and on him between March 1998 and December 2000 at their home in Scenic Mobile Home Park in Pymatuning Township.

In previous court statements, Assistant District Attorney Robert G. Kochems said the older of the girls described a July 4, 1999, incident in which Bragg had anal sex with her and later held a gun to her head, saying he could kill her and "no one would know because of the fireworks."

After the July 4 incident, the older girl told the woman about the incident, which prompted Bragg and the woman to argue, Kochems said. The girl said Bragg pointed a shotgun at the woman, Kochems said.

According to Kochems, the younger girl said she was forced to watch as Bragg and the woman had sex, and said she was "forced to have anal or oral intercourse two or three times a week, with never more than two weeks off."

The girls were 14 and 16 when the incidents began.

"You have done a lot of good things in your life," Dobson said, "but there were children who needed you and you violated that trust."

Dobson also talked about the wrong Bragg did to the girls.

"There is a telltale pattern in (sexual abuse)," he said. "Their lives are changed forever, for the worst. Some survive, and thrive, but many do not. You have taken a part of their lives away from them."

Dobson gave Bragg a sentence of 1 to 5 years for the statutory sexual assault charge, 1 to 2 years for the reckless endangerment charge and 4 to 10 years for the sexual assault charge to run consecutively.

Bragg received credit for 20 days' served.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at: ateutsch@sharonherald.com