Updated

A former assistant principal has been sentenced to eight years in prison for molesting four girls at two Los Angeles schools.

A Superior Court judge on Tuesday also ordered 40-year-old Steve Thomas Rooney to pay $5,000 in fines and restitution.

Rooney pleaded no contest in August to four counts, including a lewd act on a child under 14.

Prosecutors say two Markham Middle School students were molested between January and March 2008, and two others were students at Foshay Learning Center when the molestions began.

Rooney worked as a teacher and later dean of students at Foshay, and as an assistant principal at Markham.

He was fired by the school district after an investigation.

His attorney Dmitry Gorin says Rooney is remorseful.