PORTAGE, Wis. -- A 26-year-old man was found guilty of a lesser charge of second-degree reckless homicide under a plea deal reached Wednesday with prosecutors in the death of a woman and the abuse of the victim's son by a group of people in a Portage house last summer.

Michael Sisk faces up to 136 years and three months in prison after being found guilty of 10 charges. He had been charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the killing 36-year-old Tammie Garlin.

Sisk could have been sentenced to life in prison but under the lesser charge he faces only up to 25 years in prison.

Under the deal, only one charge of child enticement was dismissed. Under the others, he either pleaded guilty or no contest. On the homicide charge, he entered what is known as an Alford plea, which means he didn't admit guilt but said the prosecution has enough evidence to obtain a conviction.

Columbia County Circuit Judge Alan White found him guilty of the homicide charge.

Sisk and two other adults were accused of killing Garlin and abusing Garlin's 11-year-old son last summer. Police found the boy in a closet in the group's rental house in Portage and then found Garlin's body buried in the back yard in June 2007.

Sisk's girlfriend, Candace Clark, entered a plea deal earlier this year. She pleaded no contest to second-degree reckless homicide, reduced from being party to first-degree intentional homicide, and no contest to intentionally contributing to the delinquency of a child. She pleaded guilty to being a party to mayhem, child enticement, child abuse, causing mental harm to a child and false imprisonment.

Another member of the group, Michaela Clerc, was accused of helping whip and burn the boy. She also was accused of helping stuff him in a closet naked and keepin ghim malnourished. Clerc pleaded no contest to child abuse and false imprisonment charges in March. Kohlwey dropped homicide counts against Clerc in November, saying that she couldn't prove Clerc took part in the killing.

Portage Police Chief Ken Manthey said in June 2007 that the child abuse was the worst he had seen in 30 years as an officer.

Stay tuned to WISC-TV and channel 3000 for continuing coverage.