A Bath man charged with sex offenses with a minor was sentenced to a minimum of nearly 10 years in prison Monday.

Paul Emmanuel Tate Jr. pleaded guilty to several counts of sex offense (while) in a parental role and will serve four consecutive sentences of a minimum of 29 months, a maximum of 95 months, in the Department of Corrections prison system — a total of 9.7 years to 31.7 years. The charge denotes that the offender had assumed a position of a parent in the home. Other counts of statutory rape against Tate were dismissed in the plea agreement with the state.

Tate has been held in the Beaufort County Detention Center since he skipped out on his first Superior Court trial date in August, was arrested in New Haven, Connecticut days later and extradited to Beaufort County.

According to Assistant District Attorney Chad Stoop, the charges stemmed from incidents between early November of 2013 and March of 2014, when Tate was living with the mother of the victim. At the time, the victim was 15 years old.

Stoop said Tate did not deny he had a sexual relationship with the girl when Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office investigators took his initial statement, though Tate said the relationship was consensual.

“None of those acts occurred by force. If the victim had been a year older, this would not be illegal,” Tate’s attorney, Jeffery Foster, told the court. Foster added that his client was not using that logic as a defense, however.

“He accepted his plea knowing it would give him a substantial active sentence,” Foster said.

When given the opportunity to speak by Superior Court Judge James C. Cole, Tate expressed remorse for his actions, and apologized to the victim.

After sentencing, Cole agreed to Foster’s request that, if available, Tate be allowed to take part in the DOC’s work release program. He also that Tate have no direct or indirect contact with the victim and her family.