An upstate New York man was sentenced to county prison after being designated a sexually violent predator in Butler County Court on Thursday.

Matthew E. Flandera, 34, of North Syracuse, N.Y., was adjudicated to be a sexually violent predator after testimony before county Judge Timothy McCune, and sentenced to 10 to 23 months in Butler County Prison, as well as 48 months of probation.

He also was ordered to undergo lifetime Megan's Law registration.

A sexually violent predator is a sex offender who has “a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses,” according to the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board's website.

Flandera pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault on Nov. 15.

He was initially charged with two counts each of corruption of minors and child endangerment, both felonies, as well as five counts of indecent assault and one count of terroristic threats, both misdemeanors after allegations that he molested two young boys over the Christmas holiday in 2015.

Julia Lindemuth, a member of the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, testified that she completed the report regarding Flandera's case and reviewed investigation material — including police reports, court reports, the affidavit of probable cause, preliminary hearing transcripts and the pre-sentence investigation — determining that Flandera met the criteria for a pedophilic disorder, with sexual interest in prepubescent children, ages 13 and younger.

She said Flandera also has a previous criminal conviction in New York for possession of child pornography in 2012 and chose not to cooperate and be interviewed during the process.

“This is an ongoing pattern, culminating in a hands-on offense,” she said.

Police began their investigation Jan. 4 after allegations that Flandera had sexually abused a 13-year-old boy were reported to the state's ChildLine hot line.

In an interview with a staff member of Butler County Alliance for Children, the teen reported that Flandera grabbed his private parts, according to court documents. Two months later, allegations surfaced that Flandera had also abused an 8-year-old boy.

Authorities suspect the boys were assaulted Dec. 22 or 23, 2015.

Lindemuth said Flandera's actions display predatory behavior, that while visiting the family, he acted on opportunities when he was alone with the children and molested them.

“Predatory behavior is established through an analysis of the offense behavior, the relationship of the offender to the victim, the sequence of behavior, and the relationship of the offense behaviors to those behaviors established in the field of sexual deviancy as being related to the risk to re-offend sexually,” the website stated.

“All SOAB members shall consider the criteria set forth in statute, including but not limited to such as age of offender, mental capacity of the victim, whether the offense involved multiple victims, for their relevance both to personality disorder/mental abnormality, as well as to predatory sexual behavior, as found in the empirical literature in the field of sexual deviance.”

“The youngest child reported that he was told not to disclose the acts, and had fear of harm from the defendant if he told,” Lindemuth said.

She said Flandera's risk of reoffending is high, as pedophilic disorder is a lifetime condition and “does hinder his ability to control himself; that inability to control that urge or desire.”

Flandera's attorney, Matthew Kalina, argued that the Commonwealth had not met the determination requirements for his client.

Assistant District Attorney Richard Bosco argued that Flandera had progressed from “mere voyeurism to an actual hands-on molestation of two children.”

McCune determined Flandera did meet the criteria.

Flandera was held on $80,000 cash bail, as well as a detainer out of New York for a probation violation offense on the child pornography case. Bosco said Flandera will be returned to that state, where he faces a nearly seven year probation violation sentence.