AUGUSTA — A former Gardiner man sentenced in January for unlawful sexual contact with a 13-year-old boy in 2000 was ordered back to prison Thursday for an additional 24 months after he admitted violating probation and failing to register as a sex offender.

Benjamin T. Brazier, 57, had been free for seven days in August when he was arrested in Lewiston and charged with violating his probation and with failing to register under the state’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. He is classified as a lifetime registrant under that act.

He was sentenced Thursday during a probation revocation hearing at the Capital Judicial Center.

His attorney, Lisa Whittier, told Justice Lance Walker that she believed Brazier was intellectually incapable of meeting conditions of probation, and he himself did not believe he could comply. She also said he had been evaluated previously and was found competent to enter a plea in January.

She also said he has “horrible physical problems” and is unable to walk any distance, adding that he collapsed Wednesday at the Kennebec County jail en route to a meeting with her.

She asked that he serve 18 months of the 2.5 years remaining on the unsuspended sentence, with probation to terminate.

The state, through Deputy District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh, sought a full revocation of probation.

Cavanaugh said Brazier told his probation officer that he was unable to get a ride to the Lewiston probation office, so the officer had to come to him. However, Cavanaugh said, Brazier found a ride to the Social Security office in Lewiston in an effort to restart benefits.

“He is astute enough to get done that which would benefit him, but not to do what needs to be done,” Cavanaugh said.

Walker said it appeared that Brazier was not a good candidate for probation, so he imposed the 24-month term with a concurrent 30-day sentence on the conviction for the failure to register.

At the original sentencing hearing in January, Whittier said Brazier had no recollection of the unlawful sexual contact, adding that Brazier had suffered several strokes.

In exchange for Brazier’s guilty pleas at that time to charges of unlawful sexual contact and assault, the state dismissed additional charges of gross sexual assault, failure to appear and attempted furnishing or procuring liquor for a minor.

Brazier was sentenced to four years in prison, with 18 months of that to be served immediately and the remainder suspended. However, he was released in August because he had been held before sentencing.

At that time, District Attorney Maeghan Maloney had said that the plea agreement took into consideration the fact that the defendant is “in extremely poor health” and that the victim would not have to testify.

Brazier had been arrested on the sex charge in 2005 but disappeared until he was picked up again in March 2015 in Penobscot County on an unrelated charge and then sent to Kennebec County on an outstanding warrant.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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