CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland man who ran an online chat group to share images and videos of toddlers being raped was sentenced Thursday to more than 26 years in federal prison.

Brian Keeling, 34, told U.S. District Judge James Gwin that "I need help." Keeling had admitted to sharing files included videos where toddlers screamed or said "no" while being sexually assaulted.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan also said Thursday that Keeling admitted to abusing a toddler himself.

"This case is incredibly disturbing in so many different ways," Sullivan said.

Gwin said Keeling's case "may be the worst type of conduct I've seen for one of these cases." The judge, who generally does not believe long sentences deter others from committing the same crime, nevertheless said a long sentence was necessary because Keeling poses a great threat to children due to his "obsession."

He ordered Keeling to pay $2,000 each to seven victims identified in the photos and videos.

Keeling, who lived in the Stockyards neighborhood, was arrested in December after he admitted to U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents that he, along with one or two others, ran a group called "Toddlers" on the messaging app Kik, according to a court filings.

He told investigators that he ran the group, which had about 50 members, and traded thousands of files from his cellphone.

Gwin on Thursday recounted one chat that investigators monitored where Keeling told someone that he would "love to see little girls getting destroyed" and asks if they "have any little girls crying." Keeling also told the person in the chat that he was the one having sex with an infant in one of the videos.

He pleaded guilty in February to advertisement, receipt and distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

Jacqueline Johnson, Keeling's federal public defender, asked the judge for a 15-year sentence. She said Keeling had an abusive and unstable childhood and abused alcohol and drugs. She said Keeling would benefit from treatment in prison.

Court filings say Keeling was caught in a probe that started with investigators in Australia. A suspect there admitted to molesting a 4-year-old girl while photographing and filming it. The suspect then shared the files with others.

The suspect gave investigators access to his Kik account, and they found that he was a member of the same group in which Keeling was an administrator.

Prosecutors said the case is still being investigated.

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