A man from Indianapolis was sentenced to more than 54 years in prison for sexually exploiting a toddler.

The Department of Justice said 38-year-old Joshua Sims of Indianapolis will have to also be under supervised release for the rest of his life once his prison sentence is up. He pled guilty to sexual exploitation of a child, possession of child sexual abuse material, and committing a sex offense while required to register as a sex offender.

Court documents say Sims was responsible for forcing the toddler to engage in sexually explicit conduct and recorded himself sexually abusing the child between February 23 and March 7, 2023. Police say Sims also a forced a relative under his care to watch Sims abuse the toddler. Sims eventually sent videos and images of himself committing the sexual abuse to others over the internet.

Investigators also say they recovered more than 5,000 images and 300 videos children being sexually abused and raped, some depicting children as young as toddlers as well as depictions of children being subjected to bestiality and sadomasochistic conduct.

Back in 2006, Sims was convicted of child molesting in DeKalb County and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was require to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, but he repeatedly failed to register as a sex offender over the next twelve years. He was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender and sentenced to additional time in prison three separate times. He was convicted of several other felonies as well, including strangulation, battery, and criminal confinement.

“Undeterred by multiple prison sentences, this pedophile subjected a toddler to horrific sexual abuse, and trafficked in recordings of children being sexually traumatized for his own sick gratification,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “We must do all we can to protect our children from sexual predators, including aggressive federal prosecution and imprisonment. Children are safer today, thanks to our partners at the U.S. Secret Service, IMPD, the outstanding Indiana ICAC Task Force, and our federal prosecutor, because this dangerous criminal will almost certainly spend the rest of his days behind federal prison walls.”