AUBURN – A convicted sexual predator was sent back to jail Thursday for cruising the aisles of Wal-Mart, where he was bound to run into young girls.

Jeremy McCown, 22, of Lewiston, was ordered to spend another six months in the Androscoggin County Jail for violating the terms of his probation.

A graduate of Lewiston High School, McCown had his legal troubles began about a year ago when he was arrested after luring girls to his car as they made their way to Lewiston Middle School.

Police said he yanked one of the young teenagers into his car, fondled her and made sexual comments before dropping her off in front of the school.

He was convicted of two counts of assault and one of criminal restraint. He spent less than six months in jail and was released last February.

A condition of his probation was that he could not have any direct or indirect contact with girls under 18.

McCown was arrested July 29 for allegedly violating that term by attempting to look up the skirts of three teenage girls who were shopping at Wal-Mart.

McCown’s probation officer learned about the incident after a woman who was shopping at the Mount Auburn Avenue department store spotted McCown acting suspiciously around the girls.

The woman, who used to volunteer at Lewiston High School and knew McCown from his involvement in the band, testified at a court hearing Thursday that McCown was crouched down next to the girls, pretending to look at the magazines while holding some type of object close to one of their legs.

Police suspected that McCown was using a mirror or some other device to look up the girls’ skirts. McCown denied the allegation, claiming that the object in his hand was a cell phone.

Justice Thomas E. Delahanty II ruled that the state did not present enough evidence to prove that McCown was looking up the girls’ skirts. But the judge did find McCown in violation of his probation for the simple fact that he had been spotted on several occasions wandering the store with no obvious purpose.

Two employees who work in the pharmacy testified Thursday that they noticed McCown roaming the aisles in the weeks leading up to his arrest. Most of the times, they said, he didn’t appear to be shopping.

McCown’s probation did not bar him from being in public places. But Delahanty decided that his ritual of going to Wal-Mart and cruising the aisles did cross the line.

“You need to get the message that you can’t play the edge on this,” the judge told McCown. “This was not inadvertent contact.”

McCown was also found in violation of his probation for refusing to give his probation officer the password for his computer. Police wanted the password so they could determine if he was contacting underage girls through the Internet.