CHARLESTON, W.Va. --  A Charleston man was sentenced Thursday to up to 25 years in prison for sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl last November.

Last month, a Kanawha Circuit Court jury convicted Robert Allen McDonald, 38, of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian and third-degree sexual assault.

McDonald's lawyer, public defender John Sullivan, asked Circuit Judge Duke Bloom to consider home confinement for his client.

McDonald previously had spent time in prison on a forgery and uttering conviction, and successfully completed his parole after he was released, Sullivan said. This demonstrated that McDonald can obey a court's orders, he said.

McDonald also asked Bloom for leniency, saying he had changed while he was in prison. If Bloom placed him on home confinement, he could continue working and help support his mother and three children, he said.

"I'm not guilty," McDonald said, "but you have a job to do, and I respect that."

Kanawha County assistant prosecutor Fred Giggenbach asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. --  A Charleston man was sentenced Thursday to up to 25 years in prison for sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl last November.

Last month, a Kanawha Circuit Court jury convicted Robert Allen McDonald, 38, of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian and third-degree sexual assault.

McDonald's lawyer, public defender John Sullivan, asked Circuit Judge Duke Bloom to consider home confinement for his client.

McDonald previously had spent time in prison on a forgery and uttering conviction, and successfully completed his parole after he was released, Sullivan said. This demonstrated that McDonald can obey a court's orders, he said.

McDonald also asked Bloom for leniency, saying he had changed while he was in prison. If Bloom placed him on home confinement, he could continue working and help support his mother and three children, he said.

"I'm not guilty," McDonald said, "but you have a job to do, and I respect that."

Kanawha County assistant prosecutor Fred Giggenbach asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence.

"The defendant has actually led a sorry excuse for a life," Giggenbach said. "He's the worst kind of thief in the world, because he stole a young girl's innocence."

The victim was unable to attend Thursday's hearing, and had written the court a letter, he said.

Bloom said he found the victim's letter "very compelling," particularly when she wrote about how McDonald had broken her family apart.

"She's worried, scared and doesn't sleep at night," Bloom said. "She sits in her room and cries, because she feels she's lost something special."

Bloom also commented on McDonald's lack of remorse, and described his behavior as "abhorrent" and "not to be tolerated in a decent society."

The judge sentenced McDonald to 10 to 20 years in prison on the sexual abuse charge, to be followed by a one- to five-year term on the sexual assault conviction. He also ordered McDonald to remain under court supervision for 30 years following his release from prison.

"You have a lengthy criminal record," Bloom said. "You should not be trusted around children ever again."

Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.