SKOWHEGAN – Mark Morin, 44, of Pittsfield received the maximum sentence under Maine law Thursday in Somerset County Superior Court for molesting a 10-year-old boy who was a former patient.

Justice Joseph Jabar stated the courts should have “zero tolerance” for these types of crimes and ordered Morin to five years in prison, with all but three years suspended and four years probation.

Morin is a neuropsychologist who deals with the effects the nervous system, especially the brain, has on behavior. He set up his Dover-Foxcroft practice in 1999.

Both the child and the child’s mother are former patients of Morin, according to authorities. Morin and the mother apparently had a relationship that began when she was a patient of Morin’s, and the child was molested at Morin’s Pittsfield home for more than four months during summer 2002.

Assistant District Attorney James Mitchell said Jabar reduced Morin’s sentence to three years because he recognized that part of the doctor’s punishment was the loss of his license to practice.

“It is very satisfying to have a young child come forward and get justice,” said Mitchell. “Kids need safe places and the doctor’s office should be one of those places.”

Mitchell said that since Morin was almost a father figure to the child, he violated what should be the safest relationship in a boy’s life.

Morin was indicted for unlawful sexual contact last April, after a second psychologist treating the child reported the abuse to police.

Morin was convicted by a Skowhegan jury last December after a two-day trial and two days of deliberations.

During court testimony, which was often graphic, the young victim said Morin had touched his genitals inappropriately and had slept with him and taken showers with him without his clothes on.

Morin admitted on the witness stand to touching the boy, but said it was only to help him with his hygiene. He also admitted to taking a photograph of the child in the nude.