A 42-year-old Sprague man was sentenced to 27 months in prison and five years of probation Wednesday for sexually assaulting a woman he knew when she slept over at his house in May 2016.

Howard A. Taylor of 54 River St. had pleaded guilty in New London Superior Court to first-degree unlawful restraint and fourth-degree sexual assault. Taylor has been held in lieu of $99,000 since November 2016 and is incarcerated at the Bridgeport Correctional Center, according to the Department of Correction.

The 20-year-old victim told state police she was sleeping on a downstairs couch when she awoke at 4:30 a.m. to find Taylor, who was naked, restraining her hands behind her back, according to an arrest warrant affidavit written by Trooper Dale DeGaetano. The woman said Taylor sexually assaulted her despite her saying, "Please, don't." Prior to the attack, Taylor had been sleeping in an upstairs bedroom with his girlfriend, who told police she left for work at 3:15 a.m., according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

The woman said she tried to talk to Taylor about the incident the next morning and he said he didn't know what she was talking about and that "nobody would believe a stupid (expletive) like her."  The victim confided in her boyfriend and to a woman she knows, who encouraged her to go to police with the underclothes she had worn.

Questioned by police, Taylor stated he never "willingly" had sex with the woman, whom he said had come on to him in the past. DNA tests of samples taken from him compared with a vaginal swab from the victim indicated he could not be eliminated as a contributor, according to the warrant.