URBANA — A Danville man who possessed and produced child pornography will spend much of the rest of his life in prison.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael McCuskey on Thursday sentenced Richard A. Pruitt, 44, who last lived on Hegeler Lane, to 40 years in prison for production, advertising, receipt and possession of child pornography.

Pruitt pleaded guilty to those offenses in June, admitting that as far back as 2004, he bought and traded pornography via the Internet and U.S. mail. He could have received life.

Pruitt was serving a sentence of probation from Vermilion County for a 2008 conviction for indecent solicitation of a minor at the time of his arrest on the pornography charges in August 2009. He has been in custody since.

Pruitt’s attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender John Taylor, read aloud a statement from Pruitt in which he called his actions “despicable and deplorable” and said he felt great remorse for the children who had been victimized in the production of the pornography, including Vermilion County boys he photographed several years ago.