A man who pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a young man with Asperger’s syndrome will serve between nine and 22 years in prison, a judge ruled Monday.

Dervin Mood

Dervin Mood, 76, was sentenced on one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct Monday. Washtenaw County trial Court Judge Darlene O’Brien gave Mood the same sentence he received in his Oakland County case, where a jury convicted him of sexually assaulting the same man earlier this year.

The victim, who is known to Mood, spoke in court Monday and said he has trouble being alone with men, including his cousin and his father. There are many triggers that cause post-traumatic stress disorder-like symptoms and the man pointed to the assault as the reason for nightmares.

“It made me feel afraid to go to sleep,” he said.

People with Asperger’s syndrome often have difficulty with social interaction and nonverbal communication. It is on the same spectrum as autism, but people with Apserger’s syndrome typically have a more normal linguistic and cognitive development.

Mood accepted a plea deal that dismissed charges of three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charges stem from accusations that Mood assaulted the man between 2003 and 2011 when he was 12, 15, 16 and 19 at a home in the 900 block of Pleasant Drive. The charge Mood pleaded no contest to stems from a single incident in 2011.

Mood was convicted in Oakland County for sexual assaults in Orion Township.

When the Oakland and Washtenaw cases came to light, Mood was on federal probation for a receiving child pornography conviction. In July 2010, Mood was sentenced to one day in prison and five years of supervised release after being convicted in January 2009.

Mood was sentenced last week to spend an additional two years in prison for violating the terms of his supervised release, according to John Shea, his attorney. Mood was not to have contact with anyone under the age of 18 without the permission of the probation department.

While in court Monday, Mood made eye contact with the victim and his mother several times and shook his head. He shook his head again during the sentencing hearing when O’Brien and attorneys read a brief description of the offense.

Mood spoke in a low, soft voice in court Monday when given a chance to speak to O’Brien before his sentence was read out. His words could not be heard by those seated in the gallery.

The victim’s mother said the damage from the case has been overwhelming. She said she and her husband were emotionally distraught because their son wanted to kill himself and they didn’t know why.

“The answer was Dervin Mood sexually assaulted our son,” she said.

AnnArbor.com is not naming the victim or his mother because he is the victim of a sex crime.

O’Brien ruled Mood would be given credit for 456 days of jail time served, in order to match up with the credit he was given in the Oakland County case. Mood will also be required to pay $1,809 in costs and fees.

Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.