NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) _ A former central Indiana teacher who pleaded guilty to having sexual relationships with two of his students has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

A Hamilton County judge sentenced 32-year-old Michael Douce on Thursday. The former teacher pleaded guilty last month to two counts of child seduction.

Douce had been the assistant choir director at Noblesville High School until December, when school officials fired him after the allegations arose that he had sexual relationships with two students between the ages of 16 and 18 throughout 2014.

WRTV reports police were tipped off in January to the relationships when one of the girls' mothers reported finding naked pictures of Douce and inappropriate text messages on her daughter's cellphone.