ROCKLAND, Maine — A 44-year-old man who was convicted eight years ago for sexually assaulting a 17-month-old boy in Rockland will serve another 30 days in jail for violating his probation.
George W. Gossage admitted Tuesday to violating his probation for operating a motor vehicle after his driver’s licence was suspended. Last year, he also admitted to violating probation for failing to update his address for the state’s sex offender registry. Tuesday’s hearing was to address both probation violations.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Fernald asked Justice Daniel Billings to sentence Gossage, who lives in Augusta, to six months in jail. Fernald said the failure to register was viewed by the state as a serious violation.
Defense attorney Dale Lavi asked for no additional jail time. Lavi said if Gossage were to spend more than 30 days in jail, he would lose his Social Security disability payments and would not be able to pay his rent.
The prosecutor acknowledged that Gossage’s probation officer had expressed similar concerns and that he thought Gossage could be more of a danger to society if he were to lose his support services by being in jail more than 30 days.
Lavi said that Gossage only missed reporting a change of address to the state by less than a month and was not trying to hide from law enforcement.
Billings agreed that the state needs to have the current addresses of people on the registry, but he also said he was sensitive to the disruption that a sentence of more than 30 days would have on Gossage.
Gossage was convicted in 2006 of unlawful sexual contact for assaulting a 17-month-old boy he had been babysitting. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but four years suspended and was placed on probation for eight years.