AUGUSTA -- David Dupont, who became the target of a criminal investigation while serving in Iraq, pleaded guilty Friday to unlawful sexual contact that occurred almost eight years ago in South China.

The investigation by U.S. Army special agents began after Dupont, 27, of Augusta lent his PlayStation game console to a fellow soldier in Iraq.

That soldier found a number of pornographic images on it, Deputy District Attorney Alan Kelley told Justice John Nivison in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Information was then sent to Maine State Police, who interviewed a young girl who had been sexually abused by Dupont, Kelley said.

Dupont, 27, formerly of South China, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual contact and was sentenced to five years in prison, with all but 18 months suspended, and four years of probation.

The offense occurred between June 9, 1999, and June 8, 2000, in South China.

Dupont originally was indicted in May 2007 on two counts of unlawful sexual contact and two counts of gross sexual assault. Those charges were dismissed in exchange for the guilty plea.

The victim was age 6 when Dupont first sexually abused her, Kelley said.

Now at age 15, the victim told the judge in a letter she's been in counseling for 18 months but still has a long way to go.

"I get angry all the time and I can't explain it," she wrote. "I feel as if he took something from me and I just can't let that go."

The girl and her family were in the courtroom to watch the sentencing but did not speak.

Kelley said the victim and her family agreed to the disposition. "It's a situation where (the girl) wants to put all this behind her," Kelley said.

Dupont's mother, Cathy LaFleur, spoke on her son's behalf.

"I don't believe he did it," she said. "That's a mother's prerogative. He has always been good and respectful."

Dupont was ordered to undergo sex offender and psychological counseling, and was banned from contact with the victim and her immediate family and from unsupervised contact with children under 18.

"The harm you committed can't be measured in terms of years and months," Nivison told Dupont. "In addition to the physical trauma, the emotional trauma is more permanent and more lasting."

Dupont, who has been jailed for the past seven or eight months, was moved to a state prison on Friday.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com