GREENFIELD — A New Hampshire man was sentenced on Wednesday to two to three years in state prison for stalking and threatening a front-line child protection worker over several years.

Christopher R. Stevens, 43, of Brentwood, New Hampshire, was earlier this month convicted by a Franklin County Superior Court jury of criminal harassment, stalking, witness intimidation and unlawful wiretapping. Judge John Agostini, who had presided over the four-day trial, called Stevens’ behavior appalling, cowardly and beyond comprehension, and declined to accept defense attorney Christopher Burns’ request for a 12- to 36-month sentence, according to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.

Agostini referred to Stevens’ actions as “just cowardice” and ordered that the concurrent sentences for the stalking and witness intimidation convictions be followed by five years of probation for the wiretapping conviction. Conditions of probation will include that Stevens stay away from the victim and wear a GPS monitoring device, according to DA’s office.

Steven E. Gagne, the Northwestern first assistant district attorney, explained that Stevens had engaged in a multi-year campaign that terrorized a state Department of Children and Families employee who was merely fulfilling her duties. In court on Wednesday, the victim described the long-lasting impact of the graphic videos and images of violence Stevens repeatedly sent to her, along with notes reading, “You’re not safe. We’re coming for you.” The threats were so severe that they prompted DCF to develop a safety plan for her and her colleagues.

The victim said she lived in “a state of constant fear that Mr. Stevens would someday follow through with the threats made against me.”

“DCF workers deserve protection from the courts of the Commonwealth. None of us should fear for our lives and the lives of our family simply for doing our job,” she said, according to the DA’s office. “We deserve better, our families deserve better and the children of the Commonwealth who are at risk deserve better.”

Gagne said Stevens maintains what he has done was within the law and “his failure to appreciate the wrongness of his conduct makes a stiff penalty warranted.”

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.