Missouri ? A Missouri man accused of kidnapping two boys and holding one for more than four years was charged Monday with molesting them nearly 70 times.

The charges were the first time authorities have openly accused Michael Devlin of molesting the children.

Devlin, a 41-year-old pizzeria manager, was charged in Clayton with 69 counts of forcible sodomy, all felonies and each punishable by up to life in prison.

St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCullough said 17 of the counts related to 13-year-old Ben Ownby, who disappeared Jan. 8, and the remaining counts were related to Shawn Hornbeck, now 15, who was abducted in 2002.

McCullough said the evidence includes interviews with all of the people involved. “Devlin acknowledged committing these acts,” McCullough said.

Both boys were found Jan. 12 inside Devlin’s apartment in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood.