SANTA ANA – A former Santa Ana teacher was sentenced Monday to 190 years in federal prison for sexually assaulting two girls during trips to the Philippines.

U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney opted to give Robert Ruben Ornelas the maximum punishment after a jury found the 65-year-old Santa Ana man guilty of seven felony counts, including having illicit sexual conduct in a foreign country and producing child pornography.

During three trips to the Philippines from 2006 to 2012, Ornelas sexually assaulted two girls who were as young as 8 years old when the abuse began. Ornelas filmed the encounters, bringing the footage back with him into the United States.

A relative found the child pornography on Ornelas’ computer in 2013, sparking the federal investigation.

Prosecutors argued that giving Ornelas the maximum sentence was the only way to stop him from “preying upon other children in the future.”

Ornelas taught in the Santa Ana Unified School District from 1992 to 2003.

Contact the writer: semery@ocregister.com