PLYMOUTH - A Rhode Island man was sentenced to a year in jail for engaging in graphic sexual banter over the Internet with detectives posing as young girls.
Ernest A. Ayotte, 47, of 10 Warren Ave., Providence, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Plymouth District Court to three counts of distributing obscene material and four counts of attempting to commit a crime.
Judge Gregory Baler sentenced him to one year in jail.
He is only the third among more than a dozen men charged with similar offenses to receive jail time.
Prosecutors had asked for 2½ years with one year to serve and the balance suspended for five years. Prosecutors also wanted five years probation with restrictions on Internet use and on contact with children, and GPS monitoring and sex offender counseling.
The conditions were not included in Judge Baler’s ruling.
Ayotte’s defense attorney sought a one-year jail sentence with six months to be served and five years probation.
Ayotte was one of more than a dozen men caught in an online sex sting in July 2006, but he was not arrested until January 2007 when State Police picked him up in Rhode Island.
Of the 20 cases that have been decided, 16 men have pleaded guilty. Three received jail time, three received suspended sentences and nine received probation. Four others had their charges continued without findings after admitting to sufficient facts for a guilty finding. Charges against Christopher Bailey, 20, of Manchester, N.H., were dismissed.
Those whose charges were continued do not have to register as sex offenders.
Those who pleaded guilty and received probation with the stipulation that they register as a sex offender could later ask a judge to exempt them from that stipulation.
Those who received jail time, even if it was suspended, must register with the state’s Sex Offender Registry Board, according to spokesman Charles McDonald. Prosecutors have consistently asked for three to five years in jail in Superior Court and 2½ years in jail in District Court cases.
At least seven more cases are pending, including that of former Plymouth Selectman Sean Dodgson.
Dodgson maintains his innocence and is scheduled for trial Aug. 27.
The Plymouth County sheriff’s office, State Police and local police assigned to the High-tech Evidence Analysis Team, or HEAT, conducted the stings in some South Shore towns over the last several years.
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