Man who sexually exploited children gets 140-year sentence

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - A 78-year-old central Illinois man who pleaded guilty to charges of sexually exploiting three children will spend the rest of his life in federal prison.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Springfield says in a news release that U.S. District Judge Sara Darrow this week ordered Toetim Cizmar to serve consecutive sentences totaling 140 years in prison.

Cizmar, of the Ford County community of Cabery, pleaded guilty last year to four counts of sexual exploitation of a child, involving three children between the ages of three and six years old.

The release says that say Cizmar engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the children after gaining the trust of the children and their parents by presenting himself as a "man of faith who dedicated his life to being an educator."