RUSSELLVILLE — A grand jury indicted a local man on multiple sodomy and sexual abuse charges involving two girls who are now adults, officials said.

Court officials said indictments were issued against John Donald Smith, 63, Ridgecrest Apt. B3, Russellville, for 10 counts of first-degree sodomy and five counts of first-degree sexual abuse.

Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said Smith was arrested in January 2012.

Investigators said the reported abuse began when the women, who are sisters, were about 3 and 4 years old and continued until they were 12 to 14 years old.

Department officials said the women reported Smith, who is a family acquaintance, threatened them with a gun and said if they told anyone what happened he would kill them, their mother and their entire family.

“I can’t begin to image the terror these two women lived with as they were growing,” Oliver said. “To think that they were so scared all those years that something would happen to their family, that they had to live with this.

“It just breaks my heart to think of the fear they were living in. I’m just glad they finally felt comfortable enough to come forward and bring this to light.”

Oliver said the women told someone who contacted the sheriff’s office.

Investigators said Smith was a frequent visitor at their home when they were younger.

Reports indicate that Smith would slip into the girls’ bedroom after they went to bed and touch them inappropriately while they were sleeping.

Investigators said some of the abuse occurred in a shed behind the girls’ house. Reports indicate on at least one occasion, one of the girls was slammed into the wall of the shed when she tried to fight back after being sodomized at gunpoint.

First-degree sodomy is a Class A felony punishable by 10 years to life in prison if found guilty. First-degree sexual abuse is a Class C felony and carries a punishment of 1-10 years if convicted.

Smith remains in the Franklin County Jail on a $500,000 cash bond.

Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said Smith could be arraigned later this month, and the case could be placed on the March circuit court docket.

Tom Smith can be reached at 256-740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.