HELENA – A former computer programmer for the Montana Department of Labor has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to receipt and possession of child pornography.
Dennis Strickland, 39, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell. Strickland had previously been convicted of a sex offense, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
The state issued a laptop computer to Strickland in August 2006 so he could work from his Great Falls home, court records said.
In January 2007, a technician in Helena became suspicious of an icon on Strickland’s computer, and a review by state personnel found numerous images of what appeared to minors involved in sex acts, according to the news release.
Strickland was fired and moved to Renton, Wash. Federal agents arrested him in Washington state.
A forensic computer analysis of Strickland’s laptop turned up numerous images and videos of male child pornography, prosecutors said.
Strickland pleaded guilty in December 2007.