AUGUSTA -- A convicted sex offender took to sleeping on the porch and in the laundry room of his onetime residence to try to abide by requirements of the state's sex-offender registry.

But it didn't work, and he was in Kennebec County Superior Court Friday pleading guilty to a felony charge of failing to comply with those requirements.

Registrants are required to verify their address periodically and upon moving.

Willard Whitmore Jr., 48, of Augusta, told Justice Nancy Mills he knew he had to change his address on the registry when he moved, but events conspired against him.

He said his former roommate was evicted and jailed, and he did not have a key to their Sewall Street apartment and so could not get his belongings. He occasionally stayed with a girlfriend who lived nearby, he said, but also slept in his sleeping bag on the premises of his former apartment.

Then a woman promised to work with him and his sister to find him an apartment, accepting $450 cash, his food stamp card and later his cell phone, but then absconded, he said.

"This woman stole all my money, and I kept trying to give her the benefit of the doubt," he told the judge Friday.

He also said he tried to change his address through the Augusta Police Department -- which keeps the local sex-offender registry -- but got there too late one day.

Generally, the police department accepts walk-in re-registrations for sex offenders between 8 a.m. and noon Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Whitmore said he was told to come back during the next registration time, but in the meantime was arrested June 21 by Augusta police and charged with violating the Sex Offender Registration Act.

He was sentenced to two years in prison, with all but 30 days suspended and two years' probation.

The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Brad Grant, recommended Whitmore spend 90 days behind bars.

Whitmore's attorney, James Billings, agreed that the underlying sentence should be two years, but sought a shorter jail term.

"One month is sufficient for the transgression here," Billings said.

It was the second time Whitmore violated the registration act. For the first offense, he was jailed for 10 days.

Whitmore was convicted in 1978 and 1983 of kidnapping, and in 1999 of attempted gross sexual assault. He has served as many as 15 years in prison, according to information on the sex-offender registry.

Mills told him he had to meet all the requirements of the act.

"You shouldn't have police officers scouting around for you," she said.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com