David St. George, 75, of Arlington, was sentenced to the prison term, five years of supervised release, and he must pay a $5,100 special assessment and $3,000 restitution to the victims in the case, the US Attorney's Office said.
Federal investigators arrested St. George in May 2018 after they found a shared online storage account that was linked to his internet that was full of child pornography, authorities said. There were 5,000 images and videos on that drive, some depicted an adult raping an infant, officials said.
Investigators searched his Alington home months later and found thousands of files of child pornography, they said. Several of the images and videos featured sexual assaults of children between the ages of 6 and 8 years old, authorities said. St. George told police that he had traded child porn on the dark web to hide his identity after his internet service provider repeatedly banned him because he kept sharing the material online, prosecutors said.
“Child pornography is not a victimless crime. It depicts child abuse. Plain and simple," said United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins. "Every single image or video of the material entails unspeakable harm and trauma inflicted upon an innocent child, and those who possess, distribute or view it not only break the law but more importantly revictimize these children with each act that sexualizes them."
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