In less than an hour, a McHenry County jury found a Belvidere man guilty of sexually assaulting a child – a crime the prosecutor described as “a nightmare” that the child could not wake up from.

Jesus Zepeda, 58, who has denied the allegations, was convicted Thursday of two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, each a Class X felony. He faces 12 to 120 years in prison when sentenced Feb. 6.

He was accused of sexually assaulting the child in his vehicle in Woodstock when she was between the ages of 7 and 9 and making her watch “pornographic videos on his cellphone,” authorities said.

In closing arguments, Assistant State’s Attorney Shelby Page told jurors that what they heard in the testimony of the girl, who is now 12 and took the stand Tuesday, was “a nightmare” and “so much worse.” She said the grooming and sexual abuse began when Zepeda would show her pornography and masturbate in front of her. He then would take her shopping and buy her toys as well as a tablet. When her stepmother took the tablet away, he bought her another one, Page said.

“Once he learned he could keep her quiet ... he took it further,” Page said, describing the assaults on the child that Zepeda committed.

Zepeda’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Matthew Feda, said everyone the girl told of the alleged abuse took it “very seriously.” But her story may not be enough to convict him.

“It’s her story, her story alone,” Feda said.

Feda said there was no investigation. Results from a sexual assault examination were not presented, and there was no physical evidence. He also said there were problems with the timeline, and that it “does not line up.”

He further asserted that an expert on sexual assault who was paid by the state to testify never met the girl and gave her opinions only in generalities.

The girl’s story “is a real nightmare. It’s horrific. But it’s only a story,” Feda said.

Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth Vonau pushed back on Feda’s assertion that there was no evidence.

The girl “is our evidence. Her words. Her story,” Vonau said, adding that there is not going to be any DNA, and this is not the crime show “CSI.”

“This is real life,” Vonau said. “He groomed [the child], trained her to be a victim, taught her to be quiet. ... She was strong enough to say something. [She] is our evidence. She came in here a 12-year-old girl, scared out of her mind, looked up from that stand, pointed at him. ... There’s your evidence.”