A Bellefonte man convicted of more than 1,000 counts of sexual assault was sentenced to serve 29 and a half to 59 years in prison at Bellefonte County Courthouse last week.

Steven Kline, 46, was convicted of sexually assaulting two victims over a period of about eight years in the 1990s. Kline is currently serving a 24-year federal sentence for child pornography charges and still must serve several more years in prison before he can begin the prison term handed down Thursday in Centre County, Assistant District Attorney Karen Arnold, who prosecuted the case, said.

Before his arrest in Centre County, Kline also pleaded guilty to charges in Northumberland and Cambria counties, Arnold said. He was sentenced to eight to 20 years in Cambria County for engaging in sexual contact with a teenager he met over the Internet. Because Cambria and Centre counties are both in Pennsylvania, the sentences will combine to one state sentence of 37 and a half to 79 years, Arnold said. The state sentence will be served after Kline completes his current federal sentence.

Kline is serving concurrent sentences and will be 106 and a-half years old before he is eligible for parole. He will serve 23 more years in a federal prison and then he will be relocated to a state penitentiary to serve the remainder of his charges, Arnold said.

"I think all along the idea has been accountability," Arnold said. "I would have certainly been distressed had it run the same time of his other sentences."

Arnold said Kline received a hefty sentence in Centre County because his crimes were more severe and prolonged. She said although she has not spoken to the victims, she thinks they feel the sentence is appropriate.

"The worst of what he did, he did in Centre County," Arnold said.

In Centre County, Kline's charges include counts of indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and one count of corruption and endangering the welfare of a child. President Judge Charles C. Brown Jr. presided over Kline's trial, which ended in September and determined his sentence.

During the trial, both victims testified and Arnold read from a report prepared by Centre County's Probation and Parole Department. Tom Young, probation and parole director, said the report contained background information for the judge and was intended to aid in sentencing. The investigative report dealt primarily with charges in Centre County, which Young said were numerous.

"His file is about 18 inches thick," Young said.