A military chaplain has been sentenced to 25 years in prison followed by life on probation after pleading guilty to molesting his daughter.

Steven Frank Michalke, who held the rank of lieutenant colonel, will be also be tried by the military, the Douglas County Sentinel reported.

“This is without a doubt one of the worst cases of child molestation that I have seen in all my 30 years of doing this,” said Douglas County District Attorney David McDade, who said the abuse took place for more than a decade. “He deserves to die in prison and let God deal with him after that.”

The sexual abuse began when the girl was 6 and continued until she was in her mid-teens, the Sentinel said.

“He was a chaplain in the Army, and he had moved across the world, and these disgusting things had apparently been happening all along the way,” McDade said. “I mean, he wrote what amounted to love letters detailing what had happened and what would happen. I mean it was horrible.”