A Scranton man was sentenced to a county prison term on Tuesday in Carbon County court on a charge of unlawful contact with a minor.

Judge Steven R. Serfass sentenced Michael Scott Lepka, 30, to serve one day less 12 to one day less 24 months in prison on the charge. The prison term will be followed by 36 months of probation.

Lepka was charged by state police at Lehighton with contacting a then 14-year-old girl via social media and telling her he wanted to have sex with her. He also requested nude pictures of her.

Defense attorney Matthew J. Mottola, of the public defender’s office, said his client had no other contacts with law enforcement in his life and was very remorseful for what he had done. He asked for a time-termed sentence.

Lepka told Serfass, “I’m sorry for what happened. It was a stupid mistake. I don’t want to come here again.”

Serfass said a presentence investigation report prepared by the adult probation office notes how the incident had an adverse effect on the young girl, calling it a “life-changing incident.”

Serfass said he had to consider the harm that Lepka did to the victim, the seriousness of the crime and the protection of the public in rejecting a time-served sentence.

Serfass also ordered Lepka to get a sexual offender’s evaluation and follow any recommendations, supply a DNA sample, have no unsupervised contact with young children and on the internet, get both mental health and drug and alcohol evaluations and follow any recommendations, pay court costs of about $1,000, pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on parole and probation and have no contact with the victim or her family.

Because the charge falls under Megan’s Law, Lepka must register as a sexual offender for the next 25 years.

He was given credit for 294 days already spent in prison on the charge.