A veteran state sheriff’s deputy will spend one year in jail for sexually assaulting a child 18 years ago.

A Circuit Court judge ordered Edwin Salinda to begin serving his jail term today. He also received five years probation under the terms of a plea agreement. 

Salinda was charged with four counts of first-degree sexual assault against a 6-year-old, from 1992 to 1994. The state agreed to let him plead guilty in May to four counts of second-degree sexual assault.

Deputy City Prosecutor Thalia Murphy said she entered into the plea agreement to spare the victim from having to testify at a trial. She said the victim did not report the sexual assaults until last year, when she was 23 years old.

A state Department of Public Safety official said yesterday that Salinda is no longer employed as a sheriff’s deputy.