An Eau Claire man accused of exposing himself to a minor avoided jail time on Thursday in a separate case in which he threatened to kill the girl's mother.

Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz requested Judge Timothy McCune put William S. Brookbank, 50, in jail for terroristic threats, to which he pleaded guilty in November. Brookbank's lawyer, Charles Nedz, asked for leniency in the sentence, citing the man's anxiety as the reason Brookbank made the threat. McCune sentenced him to jail for a maximum for two years, but immediately paroled him while adding another two years of probation, effectively putting him on probation for a total of four years.

“I got my heart ripped apart by this,” Brookbank said in court immediately before the sentence was handed down.

Brookbank, 50, was arrested last year after police interviewed a then-5-year-old girl, who told them that Brookbank pulled down his pants, exposing himself, and inappropriately touched her, police said. While touching her, she told authorities, he called her a derogatory name.

For this, he is facing felony charges of child endangerment and corruption of minors as well as misdemeanor charges of indecent assault (two counts) and indecent exposure.

When police arrested Brookbank, they reported that he said he would get a gun and “shoot the kid's mother when this is done.” The threat landed him a separate case and he was charged with terroristic threats. On Monday, he pleaded guilty to that single charge.

Brookbank is expected back in court next month for the case involving corruption of minors.