ALBANY, N.Y. — Federal prosecutors say a 37-year-old upstate New York man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for texting sexual messages to out-of-state underage girls and distributing child pornography.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Albany says George Muzio Jr., of Cohoes, was sentenced Thursday for his guilty plea in July to charges of online sexual exploitation of children and possession and distribution of child porn.

Muzio will have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

Prosecutors say he communicated with more than a dozen underage girls from across North America during a two-year period. Officials say he posed as a teenage boy and received sexually explicit photos from the girls.

Muzio also admitted to possessing hundreds of child porn videos on his laptop.