A suspect in the murders of two women pleaded guilty Friday in a separate crime -- the rape of a 9-year-old neighbor.

James Maxwell, 44, of Port Orange was sentenced to three life terms by Circuit Judge R. Michael Hutcheson for kidnapping and raping the girl. He was sentenced to an additional 15 years for burglary.

The three life terms are for capital sexual battery, lewd and lascivious molestation of a person younger than 12 and kidnapping.

Defense Attorney Jane Park asked the judge to request protective custody for Maxwell once he arrives in prison.

"This type of charge makes you a target," Park said Friday after the hearing. "I'm afraid he could get attacked or killed."

Maxwell had been a holiday party guest at the girl's parents' house in the Brandy Hills neighborhood in December 2011. Court documents show that sometime after the party that night, the girl woke up to find Maxwell sitting in a chair in her bedroom.

Police say Maxwell told the girl to leave her house with him because "they needed to pick up her mother."

Maxwell then abducted the girl and raped her, police said. Reports say Maxwell told the child to take off her clothes. When she refused and resisted, Maxwell is accused of striking the child in the head.

Authorities say Maxwell drove the child to a wooded area, raped her and took her to a park, where they stayed for the night. He was arrested the next day after dropping off the child at Port Orange police's headquarters on Clyde Morris Boulevard.

Port Orange Lt. David Meyer said it was never clear exactly where Maxwell took the youngster that evening, because the child could not describe the locations and Maxwell has never confessed to the crimes.

Park said her client agreed to a plea because he did not want the child to have to testify in a trial. Park also said her client never confessed to the kidnapping and rape, however "he didn't want to fight the charges tooth and nail," she said.

Maxwell is also charged with first-degree murder in the killings of prostitutes Chasity Starr of Holly Hill and Pamela Will of South Daytona.

Even though he has pleaded not guilty, search warrants show Maxwell admitted to Port Orange detectives that he killed Starr by strangling her in January 2011. Starr's body was found in Maxwell's backyard in June. Her skeletal remains were wrapped in a red, white and blue quilt-like bed spread, the search warrants state.

Pamela Will, meanwhile, was found in a muddy ditch next to International Trade Associates in Ormond Beach, where Maxwell once worked.

In 1988, Maxwell was also convicted of attempted murder for repeatedly stabbing a Daytona Beach prostitute in the chest. He served time in prison for that offense. His trial for the Starr/Will murders is slated for early next year.

Friday afternoon as Hutcheson read the charges against Maxwell, the suspect's mother, Dixie Maxwell, sat quietly in the courtroom, dark glasses shielding her eyes. After the hearing, she said she has stayed in contact with her son while he's been in custody at the Volusia County Branch Jail.

"He's really a good person," Dixie Maxwell said. "He's my son. He will always be my son."