A judge sentenced a Burlington man to a minimum of 138 years in prison Tuesday after he was convicted for breaking into two women’s Carrboro apartments and raping them on three separate occasions in 2005 and 2006.

Frank Cruz, 36, received a maximum of 179 years. The sentence was one of the longest ever issued in Orange County.

Cruz was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Byron Beasley. He said the rape cases were the most heinous he had encountered.

“What I asked for was every single thing he could get and that is exactly what he got. It was certainly warranted under the facts. He raped one woman twice and another woman once. It was complete stranger rape, crawling through their windows in the middle of the night,” Beasley said.

Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before finding Cruz guilty for rape, kidnapping, and burglary.

“These women are going to have nightmares for the rest of their lives. He got the maximum that he could get for what he was convicted of and it was entirely appropriate,” Beasley said.

Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour told Cruz that the sentence was arranged so that he would never get out of prison, as reported by the News and Observer.

The rapes were initially reported and investigated in late 2005 and early 2006. Cruz became a suspect several years later when DNA samples taken from Cruz in another jurisdiction were linked to evidence in the Carrboro cases.

DNA and fingerprint evidence formed a part of Beasley’s case against Cruz.