A 63-year-old man surrendered Thursday to the Jefferson County Jail after pleading guilty to the sex abuse of two young children.

James Andrew Brooks, who lives in western Jefferson County, pleaded guilty to two counts of sex abuse of a child under the age of 12 and two counts of enticing a child for immoral purposes.

Brooks entered his plea May 18 before Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff Circuit Judge David Carpenter, records show.

Brooks was initially arrested by the sheriff’s office in 2020 on 10 charges involving sexual abuse of the two children.

The abuse happened over the past decade, records state, and one of the victims was 5 years old at the time of the crimes. At least one of the incidents involved a trip to Splash Adventure.

As part of his plea deal, six other charges were dismissed, which included sex abuse, traveling to meet a child for immoral purposes, and facilitating the travel of a child for an unlawful sex act.

Carpenter sentenced Brooks to 12 years each on two of the charges and 10 years each on the other two charges for which he pleaded guilty. Those sentences are to be served concurrently. He is to have no contact with either victim.

Brooks was ordered to turn himself in at the county jail today to await transfer to state prison.