Ex-Coral Springs Mayor John Sommerer was sentenced to 4 ½ years in prison Tuesday after pleading no contest to sexual molestation charges on a young girl.

Sommerer, 60, has been in jail for six months and had pleaded not guilty to the charges but changed his plea weeks before his trial was to start to receive less time in prison. If convicted, Sommerer could have faced life in prison and would have spent at least 25 years behind bars.

After being released from prison, Sommerer will also have to adhere to 30 years of stringent sexual offender probation.

On Dec. 19, Coral Springs police arrested the former leader of the city after a then 5-year-old girl claimed Sommerer had improperly touched her several times during a one-year span beginning in October 2006.

The victim, whom The Miami Herald will not identify because of her age and the nature of the crime, told police Sommerer would ask her to do other things like not wear underwear while riding on a motor scooter, according to the warrant. He also asked her to retrieve a balloon that he had blown up and placed on his penis, according to police records.

On Tuesday, Sommerer sat in court shackled and quietly awaited his fate to be read to him by Judge Mily Rodriguez-Powell.

Just four years earlier, he was lauded by an entire city as a calm leader who reflected Coral Springs' values.

Sommerer was first elected in 1994 and held the post until he was termed out in 2004. The popular mayor attempted a comeback in 2006 but was defeated in a close election.

Away from the dais, Sommerer held a persona as a devoted family man and had his own accounting firm.

Sommerer is married and has four sons.

During his 2006 campaign, he stressed his family values and touted on his website he was a devout Christian.

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