Former University Police lieutenant Ronald Godby was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty last month to felony charges of manufacturing and possession of child pornography.

Godby, 54, will serve time in the Illinois Department of Corrections and will be required to register as a sex offender for life, according to a statement from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Civil no contact orders were also obtained for both women, the statement said.

The former lieutenant was first arrested in February 2016, when he was charged with manufacturing and possession of child pornography, as well as grooming — the act of knowingly using an online service to lure a child to commit a sex offense or engage in unlawful sexual conduct.

He was also charged in May 2016 in another child pornography case when investigators found photos of a second teenage girl on his computer. Godby was charged a second time with manufacturing and possession of child pornography after a joint investigation by the Cook County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Mount Prospect Police Department, according to a news release from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Godby, who worked in UP’s investigations unit, is no longer a University employee and was placed on administrative leave in February 2016 after his first arrest.

Ernest DiBenedetto, Godby’s attorney, told The Daily his client felt his actions caused people grief and that he is “sorry for that.” Godby has “accepted responsibility” for what he did, DiBenedetto said.

“Everything else about the man was good,” DiBenedetto said. “He did photography in his spare time … He did a lot of good for his civic organizations.”

Allyson Chiu contributed reporting.

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