A 35-year-old man was sentenced to two life sentences Thursday for raping a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant and later gave birth.

Jason Elsea, of Lakeland, pleaded guilty in December. Before Elsea was sentenced, Assistant State Attorney Ashley McCarthy urged Circuit Judge William “Bill” Sites to sentence Elsea to life in prison.

McCarthy explained to Sites that Elsea’s actions in 2018 were egregious.

She said Elsea had a number of opportunities to do the right thing but continued to have sex with the girl even after he knew she was pregnant. The girl, McCarthy said, must live with the emotional scars the rest of her life.

In addition, McCarthy said that after Elsea found out the girl was pregnant he fed her medication in an attempt to abort the fetus.

Sites told Elsea his actions were atrocious. He sentenced Elsea to life in prison for the two counts of sexual battery on a child under 18.

“What you did was one of the most horrible things that a person can do,” Sites said.

State Attorney Brian Haas thanks Assistant State Attorney McCarthy and the Lakeland Police Department for their work on the case.