An Auburn man who amassed a collection of more than 400 child pornography videos was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Portland to 6½ years in prison.

Stephen Pennington, 41, admitted to a federal agent who went to his apartment in Auburn on May 17, 2012, that he liked to “look at, and download pictures of, young girls on the computer,” according to court records.

Pennington pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge George Singal on Nov. 25, 2013, to one count of possession of child pornography.

Federal authorities began investigating Pennington, who moved to Auburn from Las Vegas in 2010, after an agent found child pornography was being made available for sharing online from an Internet connection at Pennington’s home.

They later seized two of Pennington’s computers and discovered more than 400 videos and 100 still images of child pornography, including at least one video of an 8-year-old girl being sexually abused by her father, court records show.

Singal also sentenced Pennington to five years of supervised release after his prison term. He has been in federal custody since Sept. 17, 2013.

Scott Dolan can be reached at 791-6304 or at:

sdolan@pressherald.com

Twitter: @scottddolan


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