CUSHING — A 57-year-old convicted sex offender is back behind bars after police said he admitted to watching his neighbors’ children and fantasizing about sexually assaulting the girl.

Robert McIntyre was arrested Sept. 26 on a probation hold and has been held at the Knox County Jail. The probation office has asked that his probation be revoked.

McIntyre was meeting with a counselor on Sept. 25 and was preparing for an annual polygraph test that he is required to take. In an interview with the counselor before the test, he admitted watching a young girl and boy next door and fantasizing about sexually assaulting the girl.

McIntyre then refused to take the polygraph test which the probation officer said violated his probation terms.

McIntyre made his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon in Rockland District Court and denied violating his probation. He will remain in jail until a revocation hearing on Oct. 27.

The defendant was convicted in 2000 in Knox County Superior Court for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in July 1999. In that case, he hid in the back of her car as the victim visited her father’s grave. When she got back in her vehicle, he put a knife to her throat and forced her to drive to a field where he sexually assaulted her.

Justice Stephen Perkins sentenced McIntyre to 20 years in prison with all but 10 years suspended. He also was placed on probation for six years.

McIntyre had been on probation at the time of that attack for sexually assaulting a child in 1994. In that case, he was given a suspended jail term because the court had ruled that McIntyre was mentally retarded.