A circuit court judge sentenced a federal police officer to a maximum 55-year prison term Tuesday for sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl, Charles County State’s Attorney Anthony B. Covington reported.

A jury found Clayton Calvin Griffin Jr., 43, of Waldorf guilty of sexual child abuse, sexual solicitation of a minor, third-degree sex offense and another sex crime May 16 following five hours of deliberations.

Charles County Circuit Judge Amy Bragunier gave Griffin the maximum amount of prison time allowable — consecutive sentences of 25 years for the count of sexual child abuse and 10 years for each of the three remaining counts.

An officer with the Federal Protective Service, Griffin did not speak at his sentencing hearing but maintained his innocence through an attorney, according to a press release from Covington’s office.

But Covington (D) reminded Bragunier that the evidence at Griffin’s trial included text messages from him telling the girl he “always” used contraception when the two had sex and asking if he could perform a specific sex act on her, the release states. Griffin also sent text messages telling the girl to erase his previous messages about their sexual encounters and contraception.

Covington urged Bragunier to hand down a sentence that “will punish Griffin for his despicable acts and that will send this message to would be abusers — In Charles County, if you have sex with a child you will go to prison for a long time,” the release states.

The girl did not speak at the hearing, but she wrote a letter, which Covington read aloud to Bragunier.

“You know what you did and I feel that if you weren’t afraid to abuse me, you shouldn’t be afraid to speak up and admit what you did to me,” the girl wrote, according to the release.

She also expressed determination to not let Griffin’s act “break [her] down” and become “the successful girl [she] was meant to be.”

Griffin was arrested in November after a woman told school officials that the girl, her daughter’s friend, had said she was having sex with Griffin.

The girl testified during the trial that Griffin had sex with her several times. She said she told a few people about the interactions, including her sister and best friend.

The woman who reported Griffin and her daughter both testified as well. The daughter said the abused girl told her about the encounters with Griffin, the release states. The woman said she first learned of the abuse from her daughter, but spoke to the victim before alerting authorities.

jnewman@somdnews.com