WILKES-BARRE â?? A sexual offender convicted in 1991 avoided a trial Tuesday in Luzerne County Court by pleading guilty on charges he molested a girl.

Patrick Jay Lambert, 45, of Pond Hill Road, Shickshinny, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of indecent assault and corruption of minors before Judge David W. Lupas.

Prosecutors withdrew a felony charge of indecent assault against Lambert, who was represented by Attorney John Pike.

Lupas sentenced Lambert to 12 months less one day to 24 months less two days, followed by five years probation, after he pleaded guilty. The sentence allows Lambert to serve his sentence at the county correctional facility.

Arrest records say Lambert was observed kissing and molesting a girl while she sat on his lap on a rear deck at a house on Parrish Street, Wilkes-Barre, on Oct. 27, 2010.

A jury was selected Monday for the trial, which was averted when Lambert pleaded guilty on Tuesday.

Lambert previously pleaded guilty to the felony indecent assault charge in May, but opted to withdrawal the guilty plea in September, according to court records.

Court records indicate Lambert was sentenced in May 1992 to five to 10 years in state prison on charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual abuse of children, statutory rape, aggravated assault and indecent assault.

Lambert pleaded guilty to furnishing alcohol to a female juvenile in Wilkes-Barre in August 2010, court records say.