(Ruffin, N.C.) — A preacher from Pelham who served as pastor of a Ruffin church and principal of a private school has been sentenced after pleading guilty to performing inappropriate sex acts and sending nude photos to an underage female student.

The Greensboro News and Record reports that 48-year-old Kevin Scott Heffner was sentenced Thursday to a minimum of 26 years in prison in Rockingham County Superior Court by Judge William Wood. Heffner must also register as a sex offender following his release from prison.

He entered guilty pleas to two counts of felony statutory sex offense with a child under 15 and 12 counts of felony disseminating obscene material to a minor.

The victim and her mother were members of Victory Baptist Church in Ruffin, a church Heffner founded and where he served as pastor until Rockingham County Sheriff’s investigators arrested him last summer.