BALLSTON SPA -- The parents of a Saratoga Springs man sentenced to prison on rape charges Monday said their son was wrongly accused.

But Assistant Saratoga County District Attorney Jennifer Jensen Bergan said Cody M. Bowker is a repeat offender who behaved as if he were entitled to sex with his victims.

Bowker, 21, was sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison for first- and second-degree rape and sexual misconduct. Bowker's victims were 16, 14 and 13 when the sexual contact occurred last year. Bowker had pleaded guilty to the charges he was sentenced for Monday.

His parents, Tammy and Tracy Bowker, said their son had consensual sex with the girls after they lied about their ages. They said the girls went to police after he found out their true ages and cut off the relationships.

"My son is guilty of stupidity, nothing else," Tracy Bowker said.

The Bowkers wrote a letter to Saratoga County Court Judge Jerry Scarano, asking for leniency. Cody Bowker was sexually abused as a child, they wrote, and later diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

After he graduated from high school, the letter said, he joined the U.S. Army but was released on a medical discharge. He was never in trouble with the law until his arrest last year, she said.

This is Bowker's second set of charges for sex crimes. In June of 2009, he pleaded guilty to rape in the second degree and committing a criminal sexual act. While he was awaiting sentencing on the charges, he committed a new series of crimes, including having sex with one of the victims from the first case.

The Bowkers said that when their son was charged with rape the first time, he signed a confession at the Saratoga Springs police station -- a mistake he made under pressure from the police, Tracy Bowker said.

Despite admitting to the crimes, he was sentenced to only six months in jail and 10 years of probation because the victims refused to testify against him, Jensen Bergan said. Bowker signed an order of protection when he was sentenced and agreed to stay away from his victims -- an order he violated, Jensen Bergan said.

"He was given a break, but he didn't care," she said.

Bowker's victims did not attend the sentencing.

Bowker's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Andrew Blumenberg, said his client made wrong decisions, but he's not a predator.

Blumenberg filed a motion to argue the charges separately, which Judge Scarano denied. It was a complicated case, and Bowker was guilty of some, but not all the charges, Blumenberg said, adding that Bowker decided to plead guilty because he would have faced 20 years or more in prison if convicted at trial on the top count of rape in the first degree.

"He's an immature kid who made bad decisions. He'll be Level 3 sex offender for the rest of his life, and it's a stiff sentence," Blumenberg said.

"He knew right from wrong, and he made the wrong decision. I'm not minimizing his culpability, I just don't think he's a predator."

Bowker did not speak at his sentencing Monday.

Leigh Hornbeck can be reached at 454-5352 or by e-mail at lhornbeck@timesunion.com.