Telephone calls and a threatening letter earned a Gold Bar man an extra six years in prison on Tuesday.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Ronald Castleberry sentenced Christopher Michael Taylor, 24, to 11 years behind bars for two counts each of third-degree child rape, witness tampering and intimidating witnesses.

Taylor already was in jail for having sex with a minor when he made repeated threatening telephone calls to the 15-year-old girl and her cousin, deputy prosecutor Matt Baldock said.

He also sent a letter from jail asking an acquaintance to find a hit man to kill the girls, Baldock said.

Taylor pleaded guilty to the sex crimes after he learned that the state was planning to file a more serious charge of solicitation to commit murder, Baldock told the judge.

Taylor got five years for the sex charges, plus six more for intimidation and witness tampering.

Taylor told the judge: “I messed up. I made a mistake – several. I’ll never do it again.”

The judge was not impressed.

He told Taylor that his own statements in a pre-sentence report talk about regretting his actions on one hand and having “private” and “romantic” moments with the victim on the other.

“It’s truly apparent Mr. Taylor doesn’t get it,” Castleberry said.

It was not a one-time event, but a series of attempts to intimidate, harass and threaten the witnesses, Castleberry said. If he could do so under the law, the judge said he would have imposed an even longer sentence.

As it was, he “wholeheartedly” agreed with Baldock’s recommendation to sentence Taylor to the high end of the sentencing range.

“There is no question in my mind that he should get the maximum,” Castleberry said.

After the sentencing, Castleberry sternly warned Taylor to abide by a court order prohibiting any kind of contact with the victims.

The sex charges came after Taylor met the girl at a gas station in Gold Bar, enticed her to sneak out of a relative’s house and lured her to his house. He gave her alcohol before molesting her, documents said.

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.