Ex-inmate gets 42-year sentence for sending child porn from prison to undercover agent

A convicted sex offender who used smuggled cellphones to send child pornography images and video from his prison to people on the outside was sentenced Thursday to 42 years in federal prison for the new crimes.

Eric Lee Bederson, 37, pleaded guilty last August to two counts of distributing child pornography after being caught by a Kansas City-based undercover agent who received six of his emails containing more than 160 images. Bederson sent the images hoping to get others in return, authorities said.

At the time, Bederson was serving a 16-year California prison sentence for sex crimes involving children. As a 21-year-old day care center teacher, he had been arrested for allegedly molesting at least 20 children and possessing child pornography. A civil lawsuit in that matter resulted in a judgment of more than $10 million.

Prior to being released in California, Bederson exchanged emails with other child pornography traders in 2011, authorities said. He acquired upward of 40 gigabytes of images and videos using multiple email accounts. Some images included minors as young as 5, federal authorities said.

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 12:09 PM with the headline "Ex-inmate gets 42-year sentence for sending child porn from prison to undercover agent."