Alfredo Deleon Jr., 41, Minot, was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison, with a requirement that he serve three years, for being in possession of a picture of a partially clothed 14-year-old girl in August 2019.

Judge Todd Cresap also ordered Deleon to serve five years of supervised probation, to register as a sex offender, and to have no contact with the victim and to pay $525 in court costs.

Deleon will receive credit for 331 days already served in the Ward County Jail, plus 47 days off his sentence for good behavior.

Deleon was convicted by a jury in September 2020 of the Class C felony possession of child pornography charge. He was acquitted of having sex with the girl.

According to court documents and testimony at the trial, Deleon met the girl when she was working at a local restaurant and had talked with her about babysitting his children. Deleon told police that the girl told him she was 22, that she was a college student, that she managed the restaurant and that she rented an apartment with roommates. The prosecution had argued that Deleon should have known how young the girl was just by looking at her. The girl, who was 15 when she testified at the trial a year after the incident in September 2020, still looked like a very young teenager.

The girl had texted him a picture of herself which was later found on Deleon’s phone. She had claimed that Deleon picked her up at her workplace and taken her back to his residence. She claimed that they had sexual contact on two occasions. The defense argued that the girl had given different accounts and was not a credible witness. The jury believed the defense argument and acquitted Deleon on the Class AA felony charge.