A former Hall County Sheriff’s Office investigator whose job was to look into allegations of misconduct within the agency pleaded guilty Monday to sexual battery involving a 3-year-old girl.

Former internal affairs investigator Michael D. Nix, 44, who was one of two deputies in the sheriff’s internal affairs division in 2009 when he was charged, entered the guilty plea for a felony charges of sexual battery and false statement.

Nix will serve 10 years of probation for the two charges and pay $3,000 plus court costs. He was booked into the Hall County Jail in July 2009 on one count of aggravated child molestation.

That charge, along with two additional charges of child molestation and another false statement charge, were dropped.

Nix will complete an anger management evaluation and must remain on the sexual offender list for at least 10 years, according to court documents signed by Superior Court Judge Kathlene Gosselin.

Under probation conditions for sex offenders, Nix will have no contact with any child under 18 “whether directly in person or indirectly through any means of communication or through employment, volunteer activity or otherwise.”

He also cannot reside with any child under 18 or create or possess a photograph of a minor other than his own children and immediate family members.

He cannot consume alcohol or drugs during probation and must keep a driving log. He will “never drive alone through parks, playgrounds or school zones where children are commonly known to be,” according to court documents.

Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation brought the charges against Nix after investigating a complaint from the parents of a 3-year-old girl, according to Hall County Sheriff’s Col. Jeff Strickland.

The girl had stayed in Nix’s Clermont home while his wife was baby-sitting her. The girl told her parents what happened and was later interviewed at a center for child victims of sexual abuse, Strickland said.

Nix had been with the sheriff’s office for 20 years, working his way up the ranks from a road deputy to investigations. In the internal affairs division, he investigated other deputies within the agency for possible rules violations and misconduct.

After the arrest, Nix was terminated and jailed, Strickland said.