A Mississippi federal judge sentenced a man to 30 years in prison on charges of coercing an underage girl to pose for child pornography with poisonous snakes.

John Joseph Maillet pleaded guilty in September to one count of production of child pornography. He was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden.

Ozerden denied Maillet’s motion to dismiss the indictment. Maillet had claimed the photographs seized by the government showed no “sexually explicit conduct” between him and the girl.

Maillet, of Port Jervis, N.Y., was living in Carriere, Miss., where the alleged crime took place. He was arrested in August.

Prosecutors say the girl was 15 when Maillet first enticed her to pose for pictures in April 2007 and was 16 when he had sex with her.

FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden has said there were 41 venomous snakes in Maillet’s home when agents executed a search warrant in 2009. When they returned Aug. 10 of this year, shortly after Maillet’s arrest, there were only 12 snakes remaining. Agents called in an expert who removed the remaining snakes from the property. The Sun Herald reports the snakes included venomous breeds, mostly rattle snakes but there was a spitting cobra and a nonvenomous anaconda.

It’s not clear what happened to the other snakes.

According to the story in the Sun Herald, during Tuesday’s hearing Maillet asked Ozerden to dismiss the guilty plea he submitted in September, but the judge declined due to Maillet’s extensive criminal history prior to this conviction, including obstruction of justice, child endangerment and injuring a child less than the age of 17. Maillet is said to have also attempted to plan an escape from the Pearl River County jail by asking two women visiting him at the jail to bring him a weapon and help him escape, the story states.

The victim in the crime, now 19, testified during the hearing on Tuesday that she began spending time at Maillet’s home because she likes snakes, but one night he became drunk and abusive, pushing her across the room. That incident prompted her and her friends with her at the time to flee the home, but not before she took the memory card from Maillet’s digital camera that contained almost 40 of the pornographic pictures of the victim, the story states. Maillet gave chase for two miles but the girl and her friends eluded him by hiding in some bushes.