PORTLAND (AP) — A Yarmouth man who induced two underage girls to send him pornographic images of themselves via text messaging has been sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison.

Federal prosecutors said 25-year-old Ronald Grant Thurston III was also sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland to five years of probation upon release.

Thurston had pleaded guilty in July to a possession of child pornography charge.

Authorities said he persuaded the girls to send him their pictures in January 2012.

Investigators later recovered those images and others when they executed a search warrant on Thurston’s computer and cellphone.