A Leelanau County man was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a federal judge in Grand Rapids last week for distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Jerry Mikowski, 24, of Suttons Bay, earlier this year signed an agreement to plead guilty to distributing images of children engaged in sexually explicit behavior in September 2006. He was indicted in November 2007.

A U.S. District Judge also sentenced Mikowski to “supervised release” for life following completion of his prison sentence.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Grand Rapids said there was no indication that Mikowski had any contact with the children in the pictures he distributed.