AUGUSTA -- A man imprisoned for eight years for trying to get someone to murder a former co-worker will return to prison for three years for his sixth violation of probation.

Mathieu O'Rourke, 31, formerly of Waterville, will be on probation again when he gets out of prison, under the sentence imposed by Justice Nancy Mills after a hearing Tuesday in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Assistant District Attorney James Mitchell had asked Mills to impose a full revocation, which would have returned O'Rourke to prison for 10 years. O'Rourke was sentenced in 2000 to 20 years in prison with all but eight suspended and six years' probation.

The state sought to revoke his probation after O'Rourke was removed from a supportive housing site in Portland. He broke house rules by having an overnight female visitor and other females guests, and by failing to adhere to curfew.

"The state and your probation officer are understandably frustrated with you," Mills told O'Rourke. "You just couldn't keep people out of your room; you couldn't obey a curfew."

O'Rourke stayed at Foundation House in Portland May 4 to June 21.

He was released from prison Sept. 27, 2007, after serving the initial eight years of his sentence. He has been jailed off and on for probation violations since then.

O'Rourke was convicted in 2000 of offering a man he met in jail $10,000 to kill a 26-year-old woman who was preparing to testify against him in a firearms case. O'Rourke was on probation at the time.

"I'm doing the best I can," O'Rourke told the judge on Tuesday. "I'm working every day to become better. Readjusting to probation is so hard. I've learned from my mistakes."

Published reports indicate O'Rourke attempted suicide in February while he was in Cumberland County's jail after being arrested and charged with a fifth violation of probation.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com