By KEITH EPPS

The drive from Camden, N.J., to Stafford County has proven far more costly than Terrance A. Evans could have ever imagined.

Evans, 39, of Camden was ordered to serve 45 years in prison yesterday for his trysts with a 14-year-old Stafford girl he'd met on the Internet.

According to evidence presented in Stafford Circuit Court, Evans sneaked into the girl's bedroom and had sex with her while her parents slept in late 2004 and early 2005.

He would then leave early in the morning and return to New Jersey before any adults woke up.

Evans was previously convicted of three counts of carnal knowledge with a minor, taking indecent liberties with a child and using a communication system to solicit sex from a minor.

Because Evans had already been convicted of sexually abusing two children in New Jersey, prosecutor Teresa Polinske charged him under a statute that required maximum penalties for his Stafford convictions.

Court records show that Evans told police that he met the girl in a Yahoo chat room while using instant messaging. He said the girl told him she was 16, but he later found out she was younger.

He said he first went to see her while she was staying at her mother's home in Prince George's County, Md.

He said the mother was sleeping when the girl let him in. Evans claimed that they only talked that night, but the girl later told police that a sex act took place.

The last encounter between Evans and the girl occurred at her father's home in Stafford on Valentine's Day 2005.

After Evans drove to Stafford late that night, court records show, the girl let him in through a sliding glass door and led him upstairs to her bedroom.

They exchanged gifts, with Evans giving the girl a stuffed bear as a Valentine's gift. They had sex while her father and stepmother slept in a nearby room.

Evans left about 5 a.m. the next morning. But the girl's father became suspicious when he saw her washing her sheets before going to school.

The father also noticed the bear and a cup that hadn't been there the previous night. The girl's stepsister eventually told her mother that a man had been there.

The father took the girl's underwear to the Sheriff's Office, and Evans ' DNA was found on them. He was arrested in May.

Evans' convictions in New Jersey involved girls who were 9 and 10 years old, court records state.

To reach KEITH EPPS:540/374-5404
Email: kepps@freelancestar.com