A Cumberland County man who was arrested last year after state police found thousands of images on his computer of infants and toddlers being sexually abused was sentenced Friday to serve three years in federal prison.
Wayne Pike, 37, of Harrison was also sentenced by Judge George Singal in U.S. District Court in Portland to pay $10,320 in restitution to his victims and to serve 10 years of supervised release after completing his prison term.
Agents from the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit began targeting Pike in July 2014 as part of an undercover investigation into people sharing child pornography over the Internet. They discovered that one person sharing images had an Internet address at Pike’s home in Harrison, according to a prosecution document filed with the court.
State police executed a search warrant on Oct. 10, 2014, at the home that he shared with his wife and two young children and seized a computer and other electronic devices. On those devices, they later found numerous pictures and videos of child pornography, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Lipez said in the prosecution document.
Although Pike was initially arrested on a state charge of possession of child pornography, federal authorities later obtained an indictment against him after presenting the case to a federal grand jury.
Pike pleaded guilty on May 28 to the single federal count.
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