FARMINGTON - A Wilton man was sentenced Monday to six months in jail for sexual abuse of a teenage boy 14 years ago.

Justice Michaela Murphy sentenced William E. Donald, 59, to three years with all but six months suspended. He will serve the time at the Franklin County jail.

His sentence included two years probation with no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16. Donald will continue with counseling and have to register as a sex offender.

Donald was arrested in April 2007 and accused of repeatedly performing a sex act with a teenage boy 14 years ago. He had pleaded no contest to the charge.

The victim came to police last year in an effort to protect others from abuse after Donald asked him to help find a youth to do Donald's yard work, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson said.

Donald told Justice Murphy he deeply regretted his actions and if he could undo the harm, he would.

Robinson told the court that Donald hired a troubled youth to do yard work for him, then befriended him, bought him gifts and gave him money. Such conduct appears to be that of a predator, Robinson said.

Donald's lawyer, Walter Hanstein, told the court that Donald, with no prior record, is a generous, kind member of the community of whom no one has ever said a bad word. This is not a textbook type of case, Hanstein said.

"He really had a brutal childhood. That's not an excuse, but he was affected profoundly," Hanstein said.

Donald's pastor, Kathleen Dunford, said that in the past seven years she had found Donald to be kind, compassionate and sincere. She told the court that she has had sexual abuse training through the church and hadn't seen anything inappropriate in Donald's behavior.

Donald's counselor, Eric Rutberg, who has been working with Donald since February, said he believed Donald suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder related to "psychological residue from his past." Rutberg believes there is a "window of opportunity" to work with Donald.