An eastern Iowa man will spend 40 years in prison for sexually exploiting two children. Thirty-two-year-old Nicholas Appleby of Oxford Junction entered a guilty plea to one count of sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography back in December.

At the plea hearing, Appleby admitted that, in 2011 and 2012, he persuaded two female minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct so he could take pictures of them. Appleby also admitted to possessing pornographic images of the girls.