SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Convicted child molester David John Sprong Jr. has been sentenced to 26 years and four months in state prison for five counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor under age 14, District Attorney Jan Scully said Thursday.

Publicity about Sprong aired on national television led to his arrest in Louisiana after he fled the Sacramento area.

"This is a great example of how the collaboration between various law enforcement agencies, the television media and community members brought Sprong back to Sacramento, where justice was served," Deputy District Attorney Lani Biafore said in a prepared statement.

In the spring of 2005, Sacramento County sheriff's deputies started an investigation of suspected acts of inappropriate conduct against Sprong's biological daughter.

Authorities said that investigation led to the discovery of two female victims who were molested by Sprong in the 1990s. Both women were the daughters of women Sprong had been dating, the district attorney's office said.

In March 2006, on the eve of jury trial, Sprong took his biological daughter and his longtime girlfriend, Clara Lenette Rodaer, across the country in an attempt to avoid prosecution.

The case was profiled on "America's Most Wanted" in January of 2007 and again in February of 2007. The "Oprah Winfrey Show" also began airing the case and placed Sprong on Oprah's Child Predator Watch List.

Authorities were able to track Sprong, Rodaer and their daughter to Louisiana.

Sprong was arrested on Feb. 22, 2007, in Holden, La.

While Sprong was on the run, he failed to register as a sex offender, assumed various aliases and changed his appearance, the district attorney's office said.

Sprong was brought back to Sacramento County. The jury trial for Sprong began in March of this year.

On April 9, 2008, Sprong was convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old victim in 1994 and four counts of child molestation involving a separate victim who was 5 and 6 years old at the time of her victimization in 1990.

Sprong had previously been convicted of sexual battery in 1990, child molestation in 1992 and unlawful sex with a minor in 1992.