ROCKLAND, Maine — A 48-year-old Spruce Head man will serve another three years in jail after he was convicted of escaping from a work release detail earlier this year, getting drunk, and then barging into a former girlfriend’s apartment and assaulting her.

William R. Waldron Jr. had his probation revoked and was ordered to serve the three remaining years on a previously suspended jail term. Waldron had been sentenced in October 2011 to five years with all but 18 months suspended for domestic violence assault and domestic violence terrorizing.

While serving the final part of that sentence at Knox County Jail, he was allowed to leave the jail on May 11, 2013, and go on a work release program. Waldron’s job was to help paint a church on Lindsey Street in Rockland.

The job site supervisor left for a short while to run an errand and when he returned, he found Waldron was intoxicated. The supervisor confronted Waldron who then ran from the scene.

A police report filed at the time stated that while Waldron was on the lam he went to an apartment on nearby Talbot Avenue and knocked on the door of a former girlfriend’s residence. When she answered, he barged into the apartment, pushed her, and then grabbed her under her pants, according to the police report filed in court.

The woman ultimately was able to get Waldron out of the apartment.

Waldron was eventually found and returned to jail. An intoxilyzer test showed his blood alcohol level to be 0.125.

In court, the district attorney’s office sought the full three-year revocation of Waldron’s previously suspended sentence. Assistant District Attorney Christopher Fernald said that the assault occurred in front of the woman’s 10-year-old son and terrorized the child.

In addition to revoking Waldron’s previous sentence, Justice Jeffrey Hjelm also ordered him to serve concurrent sentences for the escape and for the new domestic violence assault.

The defense presented several members of the local ministry where Waldron had been doing the painting who spoke on his behalf, saying that he committed the offense after having a relapse to drinking but that he was trying to stay sober.

Defense attorney Eric “Rick” Morse said Waldron endured a very abusive childhood and only completed school up to the seventh grade. Waldron taught himself to read, the defense attorney said.

“I’m sorry for messing up,” Waldron told Hjelm on Monday.

Fernald said that calling this a slip-up minimized the severity of Waldron’s actions.

Hjelm said that a review of Waldron’s record indicated that he had squandered many chances given to him. The judge noted that Waldron — a convicted felon — posted on Facebook a photograph of himself holding a gun. The judge also cited Waldron’s lengthy criminal record.

The 2011 sentence imposed on Waldron involved a case in which he repeatedly assaulted his wife and threatened to kill her. He began filling a tub with water and told his wife that he would drown her and it would be worth going to prison, according to the police report on that case.