(KNZA)--A Sabetha man convicted on a pair of child sex charges involving a three-year-old has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

27-year-old Roy Tidwell III was sentenced Monday in Brown County District Court on charges of rape and aggravated internet trading in child pornography.

Brown County Attorney Kevin Hill says the sentence was handed down after the state presented a review of graphic text messages extracted from the defendant’s phone.

Tidwell pleaded no contest to the felony charges last month.  In exchange for the plea, a charge of sexual exploitation of a child was dismissed.

He was arrested in May following an investigation by federal, state and local authorities into alleged child sex offenses committed in Hiawatha between July and December 2017.  

Tidwell also faces two child sex-related charges in Nemaha County.