(AP)The Kansas Court of Appeals has upheld the life sentence of a former Arlington City Council member for molesting a 7-year-old girl.

Thirty-nine-year-old Shane R. Zink had appealed a sentence of 14 concurrent life terms in prison for sex crimes involving the girl.

Reno County District Attorney Keith Schroeder said Monday the court upheld the sentence in an unpublished ruling.

Zink pleaded guilty in June 2011 to committing crimes against the girl between March 2009 and April 2010, including taking sexually explicit photos of her at his Arlington home.

The Hutchinson News reports Zink’s earliest possible release date is in May 2035.

Zink was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Arlington council in 2009 but resigned after his arrest in spring 2010.