A 32-year-old man was sentenced to five years in federal prison this week for receiving child pornography over the Internet.

Brian Scott Fellman, formerly of College Place, Wash., will be on probation for five years when he gets out and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life under a sentence imposed Monday in U.S. District Court in Richland.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Maryland tracked to Fellman a computer that was sharing child pornography filed over the Internet in 2009. Agents found thousands of images and videos of child pornography that had been downloaded onto one computer.

Fellman, who had been a student at Walla Walla Community College, pleaded guilty in July and was out of custody.

His public defender, Diane Hehir, tried to keep him out of prison, saying Fellman obtained the files from someone who had already organized them and hadn't looked at many of them. Hehir said in court documents that Fellman had never physically harmed chidlren.

"He has been struggling with shame, embarrassment and guilt because he received child pornography," Hehir wrote. "Mr. Fellman noted that he had not looked at all or even most of the material that he received, while noting that he certainly had looked at some of it and did not dispute the Government’s characterization or description of the material."

Prosecutors called for a prison sentence of 10 years, saying "his downloading and collecting of child pornography...helped to encourage and support, what Congress has called, 'a national tragedy.'”

Michael C. Ormsby, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, said in a prepared statement, “Our youth have been manipulated, victimized and traumatized by sexual predators. Their images have been stolen and will forever be traded over the Internet. Our dedicated law enforcement officers are to be commended for reaching across the country to make this community safer. ”

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