PONTIAC - A Chicago man has been sentenced to 180 days in jail and must register as a sex offender after admitting exposing himself to a busload of children.

Dinesh M. Patel, 30, formerly of St. Peters, Mo., was sentenced on Friday in Livingston County Circuit Court after pleading guilty to 22 counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

Patel will have to serve his time at the Livingston County jail in Pontiac. He will remain on probation for 30 months and will receive counseling for the offense.

Patel said he was sorry.

"While you express your remorse today, you still are in a certain stand of denial," Livingston County Circuit Judge Harold Frobish said to Patel. "A child should not witness such conduct."

Patel's attorney Bill Bertram asked for the sentence to start on Monday because Patel needed time to get his affairs in order for his pregnant wife. Prosecutors said Patel presented a flight risk because he is not a citizen of the United States.

The request was denied.

On March 14, Patel was driving north on Interstate 55 near Odell in a sport utility vehicle when he pulled up next to a school bus, prosecutors said.

Patel's trousers were down when he turned on the dome light and began touching his genitals, prosecutors said.

Both vehicles were traveling at highway speeds at the time of the incident. Witnesses said at one point Patel looked up, smiled and waved to the people on the bus, prosecutors said.

There were 11 children, ages 11 and 12, on the bus, but it is not clear how many were boys or girls. There were also teachers and school chaperones on the bus.

Prosecutors have not said where the children were from or where they were going, but they were not from Livingston County. A witness list includes several people from Thornton, Dolton and Lansing, which are suburbs of southern Chicago.