PARIS – A Rumford man has been handed a 20-year prison term for the rape and assault of a 2-year-old girl whom he was left to baby-sit at her home.

Steven Morton, 20, pleaded guilty last May and was sentenced Thursday in Oxford County Superior Court.

Morton was given a 27-year sentence with seven years suspended for gross sexual assault and a concurrent 10-year sentence on the assault count. In addition, he faces 18 years probation upon release and will be required to register for life as a sex offender. During the hearing, Morton apologized for his actions and said the victim’s mother was a friend of his.

“Those people didn’t deserve what happened,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much time I get, it won’t reverse what happened.”

The mother, who had left her daughter in Morton’s care while she was at work, said the assault has ruined the family’s lives. “I look at men completely different now; I am scared to work,” she said.

Morton’s attorney, Ron Hoffman, told the judge that his client was under the influence of drugs and beer at the time of the September 2005 incident and had no recollection of it.

Morton, who has been in custody since his arrest, was taken to Maine State Prison after his sentencing.