WORCESTER — His three victims, all grown men now, spoke of the emotional trauma they experienced after being sexually assaulted in the 1990s by David Kress, the former scoutmaster of their Boy Scout troop in Thompson, Connecticut.

One said in an impact statement that he began to "self-medicate" with drugs and alcohol in his early 20s "to mask the pain I was dealing with inside."

"The feeling of being damaged has never left from that age of 11," another told the court.

Mr. Kress, 53, of 447 Quaddick Road, Thompson, was sentenced to 5 to 7 years in state prison Thursday, with five years of probation to begin upon his release, after pleading guilty in Worcester Superior Court to seven counts of child rape.

The charges stemmed from sexual assaults committed in the 1990s by Mr. Kress when he was scoutmaster of Troop 66 in Thompson and the victims were members of the troop. The sexual assaults occurred during Scout outings at Nichols College in Dudley while school was out. Mr. Kress worked for a private firm that provided security services at the college.

The assaults included acts of oral sex and, in some instances, Mr. Kress provided the victims with alcohol, according to Assistant District Attorney Alyssa A. Kilmurray.

One of the victims recalled in his impact statement that Mr. Kress began to supply him with alcohol and pornography to share with his friends about a year after he joined the Scout troop.

"I was the cool kid because of it. I thought it was great. Then the abuse started, and my life was never the same.

"You took so much from me in an instant that a young boy can never get back. You stole part of my adolescence. From that point on in my life, no matter what it seemed on the outside, I was always a complete mess inside. I was hurt, confused, upset, angry and couldn't tell anybody why. I had to carry this secret, these emotions. I didn't want people to know what happened. I felt ashamed," he wrote.

Mr. Kress was arrested by Connecticut State Police in 2014, and is still facing charges in Connecticut stemming from what Ms. Kilmurray described during an earlier court hearing in the case as "similar conduct" in that state, some of which involved the same victims.

He was indicted in September 2015 on the charges to which he pleaded guilty Thursday and has remained in custody on $50,000 cash bail since his January arraignment in the Worcester court.

The charges stemmed from an investigation conducted by Dudley police, working in conjunction with Connecticut authorities. Boy Scout officials from the Connecticut River Council branch said earlier that Mr. Kress was relieved of his volunteer duties with the organization once the allegations against him were brought forward.

The sentence imposed by Judge Daniel M. Wrenn was jointly recommended by Ms. Kilmurray and lawyer Leonardo A. Angiulo, who represented Mr. Kress, a Marine Corps veteran who worked for many years as a self-employed carpenter.

As conditions of probation, Mr. Kress was ordered to register as a sex offender and undergo sex offender counseling, to have no contact with the victims and no unsupervised contact with children under age 16 and to remain drug- and alcohol-free with random tests. He will also be under GPS monitoring during his five years of probation.

Mr. Kress was given credit for 344 days he spent in custody awaiting the resolution of his case.

Dudley Police Chief Steven J. Wojnar and Police Sgt. Dean Poplawski, who headed the investigation, were in court for the plea hearing.

"I think it was a great job by my sergeant, by the victims — just their fortitude and courage to push forward with everything is commendable. We're glad that the case is resolved.

"Hopefully the victims can now move forward and be successful in life," Chief Wojnar said.