A 37-year-old St. Johns County man was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years in prison after he pleaded no contest last month to three counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child younger than 16.

Michael Taylor was also sentenced to 15 years of sex offender probation and was designated as a sexual offender.

Deputies said their investigation began when the victim's parents learned that Taylor had sexually assaulted her on several occasions over a two-year span.

Deputies said the girl told them that Taylor showed up at her home while she was babysitting and sexually assaulted her in December 2010 or January 2011.

Deputies said that when the girl's father confronted Taylor about the allegations, Taylor said he offered to pay the girl $200 a month until she turned 18 in exchange for not reporting the incident.

Taylor was taken into custody at his workplace in September and brought in for questioning. He was then booked into jail.