A Dorchester man will serve up to three decades in state prison for raping two young family friends over a period of years, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

At a sentencing hearing yesterday, Assistant District Attorney Leora Joseph, chief of Conley’s Child Protection Unit, recommended that KENNETH WARD (D.O.B. 3/6/68) serve 30 to 40 years behind bars. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly sentenced him to a term of 25 to 30, to be followed by the 10 years of probation Joseph also recommended.

Under the terms of that probation, Ward must have no contact with the victims or their families, must have no unsupervised contact with any children under 16, and must enter and complete a sex offender treatment program.

“Cases like this show the depravity to which some offenders can sink, but they also show the bravery and strength that their young victims have within them,” Conley said. “This is a man who stole two children’s childhoods, who betrayed their trust and the trust of their loving parents. And these children, forced to keep a terrible secret for so long, found a way to tell the truth – to the people who loved them, to the police and prosecutors who fought for them, and to the jury that believed them. What those girls did wasn’t merely for themselves. What they did will protect other children this predator might have gone on to hurt.”

A Suffolk Superior Court on Feb. 23 convicted Ward of all charges against him, including five counts of rape of a child and six counts of indecent assault and battery on a child. Both victims testified at trial, revealing the years of sexual abuse they suffered at the defendant’s hands. Additional testimony proved that Ward, who was romantically involved with a relative of the girls, forced himself on both children repeatedly at that relative’s Dorchester home. The abuse began in 1992 and continued for almost 10 years when they were between the ages of 7 and 13 years old.

One of the victims disclosed the abuse to a trusted adult in the summer of 2010. In the aftermath of that disclosure, she and the second victim decided to come forward to authorities and report the abuse. Conley’s office indicted Ward later that fall.

The case highlighted one of the most difficult challenges in prosecuting child sexual assault cases: the victims’ delayed disclosure, often because they are ashamed of or blame themselves for the abuse perpetrated upon them. Finding that many young victims of sexual abuse were unable or unwilling to speak about their experiences for many years, Conley spearheaded efforts to eliminate the statute of limitations for sex crimes against children. In 2006, those efforts paid off when the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse was extended from 15 years to 27 years.

Sexual assault can happen to any person of any age. While the victims of any crime are asked to call 911 in an emergency, the survivors of sexual violence in Suffolk County can also call the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center’s 24-hour hotline at 800-841-8371. The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center provides medical advocacy, legal services, counseling, and other services to victims of rape and sexual assault.

Kathryn DiPerna was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Ward was represented by attorney David Grimaldi.