AUBURN – A 26-year-old Auburn man was sent to prison Wednesday for having sex with a 13-year-old girl whom he met on the Internet.

Justice Ellen Gorman sentenced Joshua Whitlock to nine months and one day, which is the minimum length needed to send someone to state prison as opposed to county jail.

According to court documents, Whitlock met his victim last year in an Internet chat room. At some point, they agreed to meet in person at a local home where the victim was staying at the time and they had sex.

The sex was consensual. But, under Maine law, it is still considered rape because the girl was under 14.

Initially, Whitlock was charged with three counts of gross sexual assault stemming from incidents on July 2, Aug. 1 and Aug. 13 of last year.

Two of the charges were dropped in May when he agreed to plead guilty to the first count.

“I am sorry,” Whitlock said in court Wednesday. “But I know that sorry doesn’t cut it. It’s only words.”

The victim’s parents also addressed the court.

“I pray that (my daughter) can overcome what happened to her,” the girl’s father said. “I’m not sure if the perpetrator is curable, but I pray that he does not hurt anyone else.”

Whitlock’s lawyer, Henry Griffin, asked the judge to consider a sentence that would allow Whitlock to serve his time in county jail as opposed to state prison.

He said Whitlock had been planning to start his own business and had managed to maintain a relationship with his fiancee. He also pointed out that Whitlock had no adult criminal record, only a juvenile conviction for a sex offense that he committed when he was 12.

Griffin suggested a sentence between zero and 90 days.

“Although I understand he wishes to avoid prison, he had sex with a 13-year-old child and for that he will spend time in prison,” Gorman said.

She sentenced Whitlock to four years in prison with all but nine months and one day suspended, followed by four years of probation.

As a condition of his probation, Whitlock will be barred from having a computer with access to the Internet. He also will have to register as a violent sex offender for the rest of his life.