A Carbon County judge on Friday sentenced a former state constable to a state prison term on counts of promoting prostitution and obstructing the administration of law and other government functions.

Judge Steven R. Serfass rejected a request for house arrest or a county sentence and sentenced George T. Bottomley Jr., 42, to serve 13 to 39 months in a state correctional institution.

Serfass echoed the statement of deputy Attorney General Rebecca Ann Elo that Bottomley violated his “position of trust.”

Serfass said, “You abused your position.”

He said Bottomley, formerly of Lansford, took advantage of women for sexual favors.

Elo asked for a state prison term, because of what Bottomley did and how he used is office of trust to force women to have sex with him.

She said,”This is an abuse of power.” She added, “He used his office like a dating service.”

She said some of the women were fighting drug addictions, and he took advantage of their situation.

Bottomley previously admitted using his position as an elected official to solicit sex from at least seven women from the Lansford area. In some of the cases, which date back to 2010, he is accused of telling the women that they could be arrested on a warrant if they did not have sex with him.

Bottomley, now living in Palmerton, has been suspended from his position since October 2016. He was charged on April 18, 2017.

As an elected state constable, Bottomley routinely served warrants and other court papers from the magisterial district court in Lansford. Because of that fact, the county district attorney’s office asked the AG to prosecute the case.

Women told officials that Bottomley offered to pay them money to help cover court costs. In exchange, they said he propositioned them for sex.

In several of the cases, Bottomley knowingly did not execute arrest warrants on the women while he was exchanging text messages offering to “help” them.

One woman told police that she had sex with Bottomley, not because of the money that he promised her, but because she feared that he would arrest her and separate her from her young child.

Police executed a search warrant at Bottomley’s home on West Bertsch Street and found that Bottomley had saved several cellphone numbers and email addresses linked to the alleged victims.

They also found a makeshift bed in the basement of the home, which is where at least two victims told police that he took them to have sexual encounters.

Bottomley told the court, “I’d like to apologize for everything. I learned a valuable lesson.”

Bottomely said he felt “bad” about what he did after he had the relations with the women. Serfass asked, “When did you feel bad, after the first time, second time, third time?”

Bottomley said the first time, and Serfass responded by saying the defendant continued his conduct several more times.

Serfass imposed one- to three-months terms on each count, running 13 of them consecutively. He also prohibited Bottomley from holding a public office for the next 10 years. He must submit to a sexual offenders evalulation, get a drug and alcohol evaluation and pay court costs of about $1,000.

He began the jail term immediately.

The county district attorney’s office recused itself from the case because Bottomley served warrants for county offices.