A soldier stationed at Fort Wainwright, 28-year-old Stephen Michael St. Hilaire, was sentenced to 6 years in Federal prison for possession of child pornography by U.S. District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline on Tiesday, it was revealed by the Justice Department.

The conviction and sentencing on the charges stems from an investigation carried out by the FBI, and the U.S. Army-Criminal Investigation Division. According to court documents, the investigation uncovered hundreds of files that included “images and videos of toddlers and infants being sexually molested by adult males.” The files were discovered on St Hilaire’s personal computer located in his barracks room at Fort Wainwright.

Investigators found that St Hilaire had used an Internet file-sharing network to gather and trade imagery of child porn.

At sentencing, Judge Beistline emphasized the fact that while the defendant’s activities may have occurred online, his crime involved images and videos of actual victims of molestation. “The problem is, when you are viewing these kinds of things, [you are] viewing real people,” said Judge Beistline, “[t]hat victimization stays with them their entire life.” Judge Beistline also noted that his sentence was intended to “discourage people from looking at this stuff, so there is no market [for it].” “We as a society are trying to protect young children,” said Judge Beistline.

In addition to his six-year prison sentence, St Hilaire must submit to a 15-year term of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced.

  child, fort wainwright, porn, pornography, prison, sentencing, soldier, stephen michael st hilaire