AURORA | A 55-year-old Aurora man has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison for possessing thousands of files of child pornography, authorities announced late Wednesday.
A federal judge sentenced Scott Garland to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release on July 29, according to the local U.S. Attorney’s Office. Garland was indicted last summer and pleaded guilty to the charges against him Dec. 19, 2019.
FBI agents first became aware of Garland’s collection of child pornography after internet service providers told the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that multiple of Garland’s accounts had been used to obtain sexual media involving children.
Officials eventually seized Garland’s accounts and devices, where they found 1,917 still photos and 843 video files “depicting abuse of very young children,” according to a news release. He had been amassing the pornographic media, which he was also distributing to others online, since 2008, officials said.
“Mr. Garland used images and videos of very young children with no regard for the carnage his actions caused,” U.S. Attorney for Colorado Jason Dunn said in a statement. “While the facts of this case are extremely difficult to comprehend, it is important that parents know we’re working to protect their children, and that child predators know we are coming for them.”
Garland will also have to pay $15,000 in restitution to multiple victims depicted in the photos and videos.
He was remanded to federal custody at the end of Wednesday’s hearing.