John Whittenburg, 62, of Buxton, pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to receiving child pornography.

According to U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II, in April 2012, investigators looking into the sharing of child pornography over the Internet interviewed Whittenburg at his home in Buxton. Whittenburg admitted that he had downloaded child pornography and consented to a search of his residence. Investigators found numerous child pornography files stored on his electronic equipment, including a video file depicting a minor female engaged in sexual activity that he had downloaded in October 2011 using a peer-to-peer file-sharing program, Delahanty said.

Whittenburg faces a sentence of no less than 5 years and no more than 20 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine and supervised release of up to life. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office, Delahanty said.

The investigation was conducted by the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit and the U.S. Secret Service.