PITTSBURGH — A fired Pittsburgh police officer will go to prison and must register as a sex offender after pleading guilty today to trying to extort sexual favors from five women in exchange for his promises to help them or their boyfriends with legal issues.

Adam Skweres, 35, was a nine-year officer before he was fired last year and charged by a Pittsburgh sex crimes detective with attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, coercion, bribery and several other counts for incidents dating to 2008.

Skweres was immediately handcuffed after this morning’s guilty plea and will be taken to prison for an agreed-upon 3 ½- to 8-year prison sentence followed by a decade of probation.

Skweres did not comment or ask the judge for leniency, saying only, “Because I am, your honor,” when Allegheny County Judge David Cashman asked why he was pleading guilty.

The allegations became public in February 2012 when Skweres was suspended without pay after he was charged with offering legal assistance to three women in exchange for sexual favors. Later that month, he was charged with trying to rape a fourth woman under similar circumstances on Feb. 11, 2012.