AUBURN – A Mechanic Falls man who once went to prison for battering his baby is heading back behind bars, this time for molesting an underage girl.

An Androscoggin County Superior Court Judge Wednesday sentenced Rocky V. Crowley, 48, to spend 13 months in prison and two years on probation.

Crowley was convicted in October of sexual abuse of a minor, unlawful sexual contact and two counts of unlawful sexual touching in connection with his contact with Amanda Vadeboncoeur, also of Mechanic Falls, when she was 14 years old. All of the charges are misdemeanors.

Her best friend at the time was Crowley’s stepdaughter. The two girls spent a lot of time at Crowley’s home. Vadeboncoeur said she regarded Crowley as a surrogate father at a time when her own father was often absent. She said she felt loved by him and his family.

She testified that Crowley was lenient and let the girls smoke and drink, buying them cigarettes and alcohol.

She said Crowley started out hugging her, but progressed to grabbing her buttocks. He later began to call her into his bedroom where he molested her, she said. She tried to avoid him, but he would continue to have his stepdaughter summon Vadeboncoeur to his room.

Her father, James, said Wednesday, “This man has destroyed our lives.”

He said his daughter had gone from a shy but happy 12-year-old to an abused and angry 18-year-old. She sat in the front row in the courtroom, but didn’t make a statement.

Outside the courthouse, James Vadeboncoeur said he was surprised by the sentence.

“We got more than actually we thought we were going to get, to be honest,” he said.

Assistant District Attorney Deborah Cashman said Crowley’s criminal record, spanning four decades, made him a candidate for consecutive sentences.

Justice Donald Marden agreed. He sentenced Crowley to prison for 10 months on one count and three months of a 10-month sentence on another count, to be served consecutively.

But Marden allowed Crowley to finish a carpentry job before reporting to the Maine Department of Corrections on March 10.

Crowley must register as a sex offender for 10 years, Marden said. He is prohibited from having contact with Vadeboncoeur and must have no unsupervised contact with any females younger than 16. He also must undergo sex offender treatment and counseling as well as neuropsychological analysis.

Crowley said Wednesday he was sorry and apologized “to everyone who’s been involved in this case.”

Virtually raised by the Maine Department of Human Services, he said, “I’ve had some very troubled times in my life.”

In 1993, Crowley was given an 8-year sentence after police charged him in connection with the death of his infant son, Chase, who was discovered dead in the motel room Crowley was sharing with a woman.

He served five years for convictions of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He was accused of thrashing and throwing the baby, who had suffered 29 rib and leg fractures before he died. Prosecutors said evidence showed Crowley had abused the infant for most of the baby’s short life.