EUGENE -- A man from Wales who pleaded guilty to sex crimes against a 10-year-old Eugene girl has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.

The Register-Guard reports that 22-year-old Gareth Vincent Hall was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to rape, sodomy and online sexual corruption of a child.

Gareth V. Hall

Hall met the girl through an online chat program then traveled to Oregon in April 2015 to meet her. Prosecutors say Hall, who was working as a lifeguard at the time, took her to a motel and had sex with her during his five-day visit.

A parent reported the incident to police after conversations with the girl revealed a small amount of information, Detective Jed McGuire said at the time of Hall's arrest.

"I don't think they quite understood the full scope of everything until we became involved," McGuire said.

The Lane County district attorney's office issued an arrest warrant for Hall on April 30, 2015, and he was arrested less than a week later at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

Hall apologized in court Tuesday through an interpreter and said he wouldn't have gone to Eugene if he had known the girl was only 10.

-- The Associated Press