LOGAN, Ohio (WCMH) — A man from Hocking County has been sentenced to 45 years in prison after he and his significant other were federally charged last year for producing and possessing child pornography.

Robert Gemienhardt, 37, was sentenced in federal court on Thursday to 45 years, according Kenneth L. Parker, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. Gemienhardt had been charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography of a prepubescent minor after it was discovered his digital devices contained more than 1,000 images and 350 videos depicting child sexual abuse.

“Gemienhardt’s conduct — the grooming and sexual abuse of the minor victims in this case — is particularly heinous,” Parker said. “He earned every bit of his sentence to multiple decades in federal prison.”

Gemienhardt admitted in court last September he sexually exploited children, one of whom was as young as 3 years old, with his girlfriend Carrie Daniels, 41. Daniels has pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of possession of child pornography and awaits sentencing.

In 2020, Gemienhardt and Daniels produced child pornography of minor victims who they groomed and sexually abused together, a Hocking County Sheriff’s Office search warrant revealed. The two exchanged “thousands of illicit text messages” related to their sexual abuse of the minor victims.

An initial tip from the messenger app, Kik, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children prompted the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Hocking County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the allegations.

Gemienhardt — who had a prior registered sex offender conviction in Franklin County — was arrested in late February, and Daniels was arrested a week later, in March.