ROCKLAND — A Thomaston man will get to spend the holidays with his family after a plea bargain in Knox County Superior Court reduced a seven-count indictment for sexually molesting a young girl to mere assault, with his nine-month jail sentence postponed until after the new year.

Wallace Thompson, 25, was indicted in March on three counts of gross sexual misconduct, two counts of gross sexual assault, both Class A felonies, and two counts of Class C unlawful sexual misconduct for alleged attacks against a young girl in St. George between January 1988 and April 1990.

After filing a series of motions questioning the specificity of the girl’s allegations, Thompson went to court Friday, winning dismissal of those charges in exchange for pleading no contest to two counts of assault, receiving nine-month sentences with all but 30 days suspended. The girl was 10 to 12 years old at the time of the alleged crimes.

Defense attorney Joanne Kroll also convinced Justice John Atwood to grant a stay of execution of Thompson’s sentence until Jan. 2, 1995, to allow him to spend the holidays with his new wife, who is expecting a child.

In court Monday, Atwood sentenced Russell W. Garner, 23, of Thomaston to 10 years in prison with five years suspended for four counts of gross sexual assault. Garner pleaded no contest to charges he sexually assaulted a young girl in Rockland on four occasions this July.