A registered sex offender received a 20-year sentence Friday after pleading guilty to enticing a child for immoral purpose.

Dallas County Circuit Court Judge Jack Meigs ordered Joe Earl Edwards, also known as “Puddin,” to serve five years of the total sentence in prison.

District Attorney Michael Jackson said, “We are not going to tolerate anybody trying to harm a little child. These child molesters are going to keep being shipped off to prison.”

Edwards, 52 of Plantersville, had been held in the Dallas County Jail under a $500,000 bond since his arrest last August.

Authorities said Edwards chased the 10-year-old girl from a school bus stop in rural Dallas County to her home about 100 yards away.

Two months later, the child appeared on the “Maury Povich Show” to talk thank a couple whose daughter was abducted and is still missing. The Alabama child and her mother had seen a segment about the missing girl and discussed it.

The mother and daughter from Plantersville said that segment about the other child possibly saved the child from being hurt.