(South Bend, IN) - Producing child pornography has landed a Michigan City man behind bars for a long time.

Ashley Harper, 49, was given a more than 17-year federal prison sentence and five years of supervised release in U.S. District Court at South Bend. According to prosecutors, he could have received as much as a life sentence. The minimum sentence in the case was 15 years.

Harper admitted taking sexually explicit cellphone pictures of a five-year-old child in July 2021.

According to authorities, the Homeland Security Investigators investigated the case with help from Indiana State Police and Michigan City Police.