PARIS – A Paris man originally facing three felony sex charges, reached an agreement with prosecutors that allowed him to plead guilty to two charges of simple assault in Oxford County Superior Court on Thursday. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Patrick Whitely, 45, of 28 Oxford St., Paris, was originally indicted in April 2005 on two counts of unlawful sexual contact, a Class C felony, and one count of gross sexual assault, a Class A felony.

However, at the beginning of September, prosecutors and Whitely’s attorney reached an agreement that he would plead guilty to two counts of simple assault.

The agreement didn’t sit well with the girls’ families. On Thursday, they testified before the judge at a sentencing hearing that Whitely deserved a harsher sentence, and needed to be a registered sex offender.

He was accused of committing the crimes against two girls under the age of 14, according to court records.

The agreement was a result of months of negotiations, Assistant District Attorney Richard Beauchesne said at Thursday’s sentencing.

Had the original charges stood, the case would have likely gone to trial, Beauchesne said. Then, because of conflicting statements, the case might have gotten thrown out.

“It was not productive to go through trial when there’s a good chance of acquittal,” Beauchesne told the judge.

However, the father of one of the girls said after the hearing that his daughter did not make any conflicting statements.

Whitely was sentenced to 364 days in the county jail, with all but 90 days suspended. He will be on probation for a year, and also will have to pay victim compensation after his release.

He was taken into custody immediately after the hearing. The judge denied his request for a week to move out of his apartment before serving his sentence.

Howard O’Brien, the attorney representing Whitely on Thursday, argued for all of Whitely’s sentence to be suspended, saying he has very little criminal history.

“I don’t think there’s anything to be served by putting him in jail,” O’Brien argued.

The father of one of the girls testified at the hearing. His daughter accompanied him to the stand.

“My daughter is not a victim of simple assault by Whitely,” he read from a statement, speaking forcefully and emotionally. “He is a pedophile.”

The father explained in detail some of the acts Whitely performed on his daughter.

While the charges Whitely was indicted on stemmed from incidents that occurred in July 2004 and January 2005, the father said there was no way to tell how long the abuse had been taking place.

His daughter is emotionally scarred from what Whitely did, he said.

A woman related to one of the girls was called to the stand, however, several words into her statement she broke down in tears and sat down.

When the defense presented its case, two of Whitely’s friends stated they knew him well and doubted he would have committed the crimes.