AUGUSTA — An Augusta man who sexually assaulted two young girls was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison.

Matthew A. Greenlaw, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of gross sexual assault and one count of dissemination of sexually explicit material in a plea deal setting his prison term at 20 years. Fifteen other counts of gross sexual assault for which he was indicted by a grand jury in August were dismissed.

The incidents for which he was charged occurred about 10 years apart from each other and involved two girls, both of whom were younger than 12 at the time.

One of the girls wrote a victim impact statement, which prosecutor Michael Madigan, an assistant district attorney, read in court Friday at the Capital Judicial Center.

In it, the victim wrote that her memories of what Greenlaw did to her are stuck in her head all the time and make her feel unsafe. She said she now doesn’t feel safe around boys, and she tried to kill herself and hurts herself on purpose because of what he did to her. She wrote that she suffers from PTSD and wanted Greenlaw to serve 40 years in jail and, if released, be on probation for the rest of his life and never be allowed to have any contact with her or the other victim.

“I was a little child, I didn’t want that happening to me,” she wrote.

Greenlaw did not speak in court Friday, other than to answer Judge Brent Davis’ questions in the sentencing process. One of his two lawyers, Andrew Dawson, said Greenlaw did not wish to address the court.

The gross sexual assault, or rape, charges came to light as authorities were investigating Greenlaw after the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit received information from an undercover federal Homeland Security Investigations agent. The agent had connected with an internet address sharing files allegedly containing sexually explicit materials that included children. The files shared online included 33 single-file images of a child and adult in sexual conduct, and 65 other photographs in a collage.

The internet address was traced to an apartment on Boothby Street in Augusta, an affidavit filed by Augusta police Detective Matthew Estes states. Augusta police obtained a search warrant and searched the apartment April 24, determining it was Greenlaw’s residence.

During the search they seized a computer from Greenlaw’s bedroom, the only computer in the residence, the affidavit states.

In July, Greenlaw was indicted by a Kennebec County grand jury on a lone count of dissemination of sexually explicit material.

A superseding indictment was issued by another Kennebec County grand jury, which met Aug. 21, adding 17 counts of gross sexual assault to Greenlaw’s indictment. The indictment lists the initials of two victims, and identifies Augusta as the location of all the incidents.

One of gross sexual assault charge to which Greenlaw pleaded guilty to Friday took place April 1-30, 2023. The other took place Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2013.

Madigan said while police were investigating Greenlaw for dissemination of sexually explicit materials when one of the girls, now an adult, disclosed that she had been in a sexual relationship with Greenlaw when she was younger than 12.

The second victim initially did not disclose any illegal activity by Greenlaw but later disclosed to a school resource officer. Police following up that report determined that sexual acts between Greenlaw and that girl had taken place.

The two girls, Madigan said, corroborated each other’s accounts of the assaults.

Greenlaw was sentenced, per the terms of the plea agreement, to 20 years in prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release. Conditions after his release include that Greenlaw undergo sex offender counseling, not have contact with anyone under 18 years without approval, and have no contact with the victims. Any internet capable devices he possesses will be subject to search and testing at any time.

He will be required to register on the Maine Sex Offender Registry for the rest of his life.

Gross sexual assault of a child under 12 years old is a Class A crime punishable in Maine by any number of years, and has no maximum sentence, Davis said. Most other Class A crimes are punishable by up to 30 years.

The dissemination of sexually explicit material charge is a Class B crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.