DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A serial child molester in Pennsylvania who tattooed an underage girl in exchange for sex will spend the rest of his life in prison for crimes against 15 children.

A Bucks County judge sentenced 36-year-old Walter Meyerle on Thursday to 494 to 982 years behind bars.

The judge convicted Meyerle in August of 170 counts of molesting boys and girls ages 4 to 17. The crimes spanned 13 years, from 1997 to 2010.

Meyerle, of Falls Township, was arrested in May 2011 after police said he tattooed a girl in return for sexual favors.

The investigation led authorities to identify other victims, most of them the children of Meyerle's friends and girlfriends.

The Doylestown Intelligencer reports (http://bit.ly/10FjMyc ) the sentencing hearing took nearly four hours because of numerous victim impact statements.

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