An Orange County sheriff’s deputy was charged Thursday with molesting a girl while on duty.

Scott Cole, 41, of Hesperia, faces one felony count of sexual molestation, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. If convicted, he faces up to three years in state prison.

On June 23, Cole responded to a report of jewelry stolen from a home in an unincorporated area near Tustin.

Prosecutors allege Cole first spoke with the girl’s mother and sister in the living room, then entered the girl’s bedroom and told her to take off some of her clothes. The deputy then returned to the living room for more conversation before re-entering the bedroom, closing the door and assaulting the girl, prosecutors said.