BELLEVILLE, Ont. - The Ontario Court of Appeal has rejected a former Prince Edward County foster parent's appeal of several sexual assault convictions, and the man is headed to prison.

The 73-year-old man, whose name can't be released to protect the identity of his two female victims, launched the appeal immediately after he was found guilty in August 2012 of two counts each of sexual assault, sexual exploitation and invitation to sexual touching.

He had been released from custody since then.

The charges were laid by provincial police after two girls, entrusted to the man's care by the former Prince Edward County Children's Aid Society (now part of Highland Shores Children's Aid), were abused at foster homes in Wellington and Bloomfield between 2004 and 2010.

The children were nine and ten years old when the abuse, which included oral sex and sexual intercourse, began.

Hastings County assistant Crown Attorney Jodi Whyte says the court dismissed the appeal in Toronto on Wednesday and the man will now begin serving the nine-year prison sentence he was given upon his conviction.