BATON ROUGE- A Gonzales man was sentenced to fifteen years in federal prison Monday morning for exploiting minors on social media.

Representing himself as a teenager on Instagram, 46-year-old Gerald Braud Jr. persuaded teenage girls to send him explicit images, the U.S. Attorney's office says.

Braud admits that he asked at least 15 minor females to exchange explicit images and videos with him throughout his 2018 online scheme. He told the victims that he was a 16-year-old boy but was 44 years of age at the time. 

After serving fifteen years in federal prison, Braud will serve five years of supervised release and register as a convicted sex offender upon his release from prison.