AUBURN — An Augusta man is expected to spend another year behind bars after pleading guilty Wednesday to having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Edwell Gethers, 37, said in Androscoggin County Superior Court during his sentencing that he didn’t want to go to trial in order to spare the girl from having to testify.

“She’s already been put through enough,” Gethers said. “I just want to stop the pain.”

Gethers said the girl told him she was almost 18 years old when they met over the phone through a mutual friend when he was at Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta.

Gethers and the girl developed a friendship and correspondence, frequently writing letters and talking, Assistant District Attorney Kate Bozeman told the judge Wednesday.

The girl’s mother passed along to the FBI in March 2015 a letter laced with sexual references to the girl from Gethers, which the FBI shared with a Lisbon police detective.

Gethers had been arrested on a charge of aggravated domestic violence in May 2014 and again in August that year for violating a condition of release. He had been transferred from Kennebec County Jail in Augusta to Riverview for a mental evaluation.

In April this year, the girl’s mother had found Gethers in her home. He and her daughter left in a taxi for a Super 8 Motel in Lewiston, she told police.

Police converged on the motel where Gethers had registered. A motel surveillance video showed the girl entering a back door to the motel, Bozeman told the judge.

When police entered Gethers’ room, it was empty, but the bedding was in disarray and a bra was found on the bed, Bozeman said.

Gethers and the girl were found at a nearby restaurant. She went back to the motel and Gethers went to a convenience store where he bought alcohol.

Police confronted the girl and arrested Gethers.

He told police the girl said she was “17, almost 18” when they met, then later told him she was 16 years old.

He denied the two had sex.

But the girl told police she and Gethers had sex, Bozeman said.

Charges of felony gross sexual assault and misdemeanor criminal restraint against Gethers were dismissed Wednesday. Had he been convicted of the felony, he would have faced up to 30 years in prison.

He pleaded guilty Wednesday to two charges of felony domestic violence assault and a single misdemeanor charge of unlawful sexual touching.

He admitted to violating probation and was sentenced to serve 29 months from his earlier domestic violence conviction that had been suspended. He has spent the past 17 months in jail, so he has 12 months left to serve.

On the new charges, he was sentenced to five years on one of the new domestic violence charges, with all but six months of that sentence suspended. On the second of the new domestic violence charges, he was sentenced to five years, all suspended. On the new misdemeanor charge, he was sentenced to 270 days in jail, to be served at the same time as his probation violation.

When Gethers gets out of jail, he will be on probation for four years. If he were to violate the terms of his probation, he could be ordered to serve some or all of the suspended portions of his two new domestic violence sentences.

Terms of his probation include no contact with anyone under 18 years old, except for his child. He also must take all medications as prescribed, refrain from alcohol and illegal drug use, and complete substance abuse and psychological counseling. He is barred from having contact with the victim and her mother.

Gethers will not have to register as a sex offender, defense attorney Allan Lobozzo said.

Bozeman said prosecutors took into account the victim’s desire to avoid testifying at trial in negotiating Gethers’ plea.

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