SKOWHEGAN — A Skowhegan man indicted on 11 felony-level sexual crimes against a child will largely walk free after most of the charges against him were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

Appearing on Tuesday at the Skowhegan District Courthouse, Isaiah Merrill, 27, agreed to plead guilty to one Class C count of visual sexual aggression against a child. He also pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor-level count of violating a protective order in a separate case.

For the single conviction on the visual sexual aggression charge, Merrill was sentenced to five years in prison, all of which was suspended.

Merrill was also sentenced to two years of probation, with conditions that he complete sexual offender evaluation and counseling, have no contact with the victim, have no contact with people younger than 18 and comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, or SORNA, which requires him to register as a sex offender for the next 25 years.

If Merrill violates the conditions of his probation, he could be required to serve the suspended prison sentence.

Based on the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed 11 other charges against Merrill: a Class A count of sexual exploitation of a minor, a class B count of unlawful sexual contact, four Class C counts of visual sexual aggression against a child, four Class C counts of sexual misconduct with a child and a Class D count of unlawful sexual touching.

Timothy Snyder, first assistant district attorney for the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office, said the family of the victim supported the agreed-upon sentence.

The state also recognized there were issues with the evidence in the case, Snyder said.

“Based on the totality of the evidence and potential evidentiary issues related to the other allegations, the state felt that this was an appropriate plea resolution,” Snyder told District Court Judge Andrew Benson.

Benson said he accepted the plea agreement for those two reasons.

According to his indictment, handed down in February, the charge to which Merrill pleaded guilty said Merrill, “for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire, did expose (himself) to a minor” or cause the minor to expose himself or herself to him in Skowhegan between Sept. 1, 2021, and March 17, 2022.

The minor involved was not yet 12 years old, court records show. Through the plea agreement, the victim was not required to go through the process of a trial, Benson said.

Snyder, the prosecutor, said if the case had gone to trial, the victim would have testified that Merrill had watched pornography and gratified himself in the presence of the victim, who is the child of a person with whom Merrill had a relationship, both inside a home and at Coburn Park in Skowhegan.

Detective Michael Bachelder of the Skowhegan Police Department, who was the primary investigator in the case, according to court records, would have testified that Merrill had told him the minor saw Merrill gratifying himself, but it was unintentional, according to Snyder.

A forensic examiner also would have also testified in the prosecution’s case, Snyder said.

Merrill’s lawyer, Alisa Schlundt of the Portland law firm Hallett Whipple Weyrens, said she was prepared to present credibility issues at trial.

In a brief statement regarding the agreed upon sentence, Schlundt asked the court to consider that Merrill is a military veteran who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

A misdemeanor-level count of theft in a separate case against Merrill was also dismissed as part of the plea agreement.