A Washington man who admitted to having sex with a 2-year-old girl and her mother was sentenced to 20 years in prison yesterday -- twice the time recommended by U.S. sentencing guidelines.

		Previous coverage Washington County man admits to sex with girl, 2, and mom (9/14/05) Washington County man charged with sex with mother, daughter (6/17/05)

District Court Judge Thomas M. Hardiman, who took a brief recess to "meditate," on the argument he heard from both sides regarding sentencing, said he felt it necessary to increase the period of incarceration because of the "heinous and despicable" nature of the crime.

"The victim in this case was not only vulnerable, but perfectly helpless," Judge Hardiman said.

Andrew Hlavac, 46, admitted to driving to Cameron County, picking up the girl, who had just turned 2 years old, and her mother, who is awaiting sentencing in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He drove the two of them back to his apartment, had sex with them both, and then returned them to their home.

Several other men have also been charged in the case -- both for having sex with the child and for possessing pornographic photos of her.

In trying to defend his client, attorney John Knorr briefly outlined some of Mr. Hlavac's background, saying that he wasn't trying to make excuses for the man's actions, just trying to add context.

Mr. Hlavac claims he was molested at 9 years old and has always felt guilty about the drowning death of his 6-year-old brother while with Mr. Hlavac, who was 8 at the time.

Mr. Knorr told the court that Mr. Hlavac didn't start viewing child pornography until after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. At the time, the defendant was living in New York, and lost a number of friends that day, Mr. Knorr said. Mr. Hlavac also lost his job in the computer field and had difficulty finding another.

"He had a great deal of time on his hands and began to dabble in child pornography," Mr. Knorr told the judge.

But his client did more than that. He logged onto sexually explicit chatrooms, talking with others in more than 100 conversations about "mother-daughter love." He described himself as being "kinky" and said he "loved the little ones -- pain and torture."

Mr. Knorr said that the little girl was Mr. Hlavac's only victim and that he recently read a study that showed that sex offenders are less likely to reoffend after incarceration than other criminals.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Miller disputed that claim, saying she's heard studies that say that child molesters are four times as likely to commit new crimes.

"Usually, there are many more victims that we don't know about -- especially with such young victims," Ms. Miller said. "They have no voice. They have no ability to tell what was done to them."

During Mr. Hlavac's almost two-hour sentencing, both attorneys in the case spoke philosophically about how the judge should sentence.

"His behavior is so foreign to our society that I have no idea where this would have come from," Mr. Knorr said. "He might as well be from another planet."

Mr. Hlavac only briefly addressed the judge.

"I'm sorry, your honor, and I take responsibility for my action," he said.

The sentencing guidelines in the case called for a prison term of nine to 12 years. But those are only a recommendation, and the judge, like he did in this case, is permitted to use discretion.

Another man charged in the case, Roderick Long, of Ross, is scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 13.