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Shawn Bivens, 34, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for having sex with a teenager.

(File photo)

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A Vanceburg, Kentucky man who picked up a Lorain teenager, brought her back to his trailer to have sex and frequently hid her in a dresser was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in federal prison.

Shawn Bivens, 34, knew the teenager, now 14, through her father, court documents show. He picked her up outside a Dollar General in Lorain on May 3 and drove her back to his apartment, where they had sex. Law enforcement found her on May 8.

A criminal complaint says Bivens had the teen hide in the bottom of a dresser any time somebody was coming into the trailer or when he left for work. She said she spent a lot of time in the crawl space and even slept in there because Bivens did not want to be caught off guard by law enforcement at night.

Bivens pleaded guilty in December to sexual exploitation of a child, transporting visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, transportation of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson handed down the sentence in her courtroom in Youngstown.

The complaint says Bivens and the teen began having a romantic relationship between February and October 2013, when she lived with her father. The teen moved back in with her mother in Ohio in October 2013, but she and Bivens still talked to each other on the phone and sent each other naked photos.

Bivens will be on supervised release for 10 years following his release from prison.

James Gentile, a Youngstown attorney representing Bivens, did not return a phone call Thursday.