A former Easton Police officer was sentenced Friday for making sexual contact with two teenage girls while on duty, conduct that the judge called “well beyond an embarrassment.”

Judge C. Carey Deeley, Jr. sentenced Sgt. Jason Dyott, 38, in a Talbot County court to four years’ incarceration. He will only serve six months, with the remaining time suspended. He will also be under supervised probation for three years.

Dyott, a 16-year veteran of the Easton Police Department, was convicted in September of two misdemeanor counts of misconduct in office for two incidents that took place in 2022, according to court documents. In the first, Dyott had sex with a recent high school graduate that he picked up from her friend’s house. Two days later, he kissed a 16-year-old high school student in a Target parking lot.

Both incidents occurred in Dyott’s police cruiser. The age of consent in Maryland is 16, with exceptions.

According to charging documents, Dyott frequently used his department-issued cellphone to arrange sexual encounters and send explicit Snapchat messages to teens and students at local high schools in Talbot County.

After learning that he was under investigation, Dyott conducted internet searches on his phone for phrases like “legal consent age in md,” “Maryland Child Pornography Penalties” and “Teen sexting Laws in MD,” the charging documents said.

Dyott’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

New sentencing guidelines aimed at imposing harsher penalties for police misconduct went into effect on the same day as Dyott’s hearing. State prosecutors argued that these more stringent guidelines should apply in Dyott’s case and sought a prison sentence for him.

Deeley ruled that regardless of which guidelines were in effect, Dyott’s crimes warranted prison time. He described Dyott’s conduct as “awful,” according to a news release from the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor.

State prosecutor Charlton Howard III said in the release that, “law enforcement officials in positions of trust must be held accountable for their wrongful actions, so that public faith in their agency, and government authority, can be preserved.”

In a statement posted to Facebook, Easton Police Chief Alan Lowrey said Dyott no longer worked for the department. Dyott had been with the force since June 2008 and became a sergeant around July 2020.

Police confirmed Dyott resigned Thursday before his sentencing.