AUBURN – A 4-year-old girl was set to testify Monday that her 39-year-old baby-sitter sexually abused her.

As it turned out, she didn’t have to.

While prospective jurors were filling the benches of Androscoggin County Superior Court, Frank Dion struck a deal with prosecutors and agreed to go to prison.

Had he gone to trial and been convicted, he would have faced up to 30 years in prison.

Instead, Dion, of Leeds, was sentenced to 15 years, with all but five years and one day suspended on the charge of gross sexual assault, the most serious sex-crime charge. He also was sentenced to five years each on two additional charges: unlawful sexual contact and sexual misconduct with a child. He will serve those sentences at the same time as the first one.

He also agreed to eight years of probation after prison.

On Halloween, Dion was baby-sitting the girl at his 240 Campbell Road home in Leeds when she was 3 years old. When they were alone in his bedroom, he had her sit on his lap while he showed her nude pictures on his computer, Assistant District Attorney Deborah Cashman said in court. He touched the girl’s private parts and had her touch his.

She later showed on drawings where Dion had touched her and she had touched him. Androscoggin County Sheriff’s deputies also had a taped interview with Dion in which he described the events, Cashman said.

The girl was in court Monday to testify against Dion. She took the stand before a jury was called to show Justice Ellen Gorman that she was competent to appear as a witness. Gorman agreed to let the girl testify.

After a brief recess, Dion told Gorman he wanted to represent himself but later relented. After meeting privately in judge’s chambers, Dion pleaded nolo contendre, meaning he won’t defend himself against the charges. He agreed to the sentence worked out between his lawyer, Peter Rodway, and Cashman. Prosecutors also agreed to drop a charge of unlawful sexual contact stemming from a separate incident earlier this year.

Cashman said the girl was the youngest witness she’s ever had ready to go to trial.

Her decision to agree to a plea bargain took into account the risk of putting such a young witness on the stand, Cashman said. During the pretrial hearing, the girl showed signs she might have difficulty in responding to some questions. There were no other witnesses to Dion’s actions, making the girl’s testimony that much more important, Cashman said.

“It’s a lot for someone of that age to have to talk about,” Cashman said.

Meanwhile, Rodway, a Mexico lawyer, said he planned to appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court an earlier court decision to allow Dion’s taped interview at trial. If his appeal is successful before the high court, Rodway said he expects to take the case to trial.

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