FARMINGTON — A former Farmington man was sentenced to five years of a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty Monday to sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 18 in February 2010.
Shawn Flagg, 40, of Stetson received an additional five-year sentence to be served at the same time as the sexual assault sentence for attempting to tamper with the witness.
Flagg pleaded guilty in Franklin County Superior Court to felony charges of gross sexual assault and tampering with a witness. The state dismissed one felony count of gross sexual assault.
According to Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Winter of Oxford County, if the case had gone to trial, testimony would have been heard that in February 2010 the girl was asleep on a couch at a house and woke up to find Flagg on top of her. He held her hands down and covered her mouth while sexually assaulting.
Testimony would have been heard that Flagg tried to send a letter from the Penobscot County Jail in Bangor that was addressed to the victim and was intercepted by jail staff. The letter had asked the victim to drop the charges, Winter said. He also wrote that he was sorry and hoped that someday she would forgive him, Winter said.
Prior to sentencing, a victim’s advocate read a statement from the girl that said she no longer trusts people. She is not able to fall asleep easily and has nightmares that make her relive the trauma. She also has panic attacks and does not like to leave the house. It took her a long time to tell anybody because she was so afraid, the advocate read. The girl finally told someone when she learned that Flagg was in jail and she felt he couldn’t hurt her anymore.
Judge Susan Oram, acting as a justice, also ordered Flagg to serve four years probation after he is released on the sexual assault sentence. Among the conditions are no contact with the victim and no use or possession of alcohol or illegal drugs. He was also ordered to have a sex offender evaluation, to undergo counseling to the satisfaction of his probation officer and to register for 10 years on the Maine Sex Offender Registry.
Flagg also admitted to criminal trespass in a different case and was ordered to pay a $100 fine.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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