PLATTE CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Kansas City man who previously was convicted of rape has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for sexually abusing two young girls for several years.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said 57-year-old Richard Hughes was sentenced Thursday for two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy.

Kansas City police began investigating in 2016 after one of the girls told a relative about the abuse. The victims were 7 and 9 at the time. One of the victims told police the abuse began when she was 2.

Zahnd says Hughes admitted to authorities that the girls were telling the truth.

Hughes had been sentenced to 21 years in prison after being arrested in Buchanan County for rape in 1983.