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A Salt Lake City man who was already a registered sex offender in Utah has been sentenced to more than 27 years in a federal prison for distributing child pornography.

Donald Ray Fritcher, 36, pleaded guilty in February to distribution of child pornography in U.S. District Court.

Last week, Judge Dale A. Kimball imposed a sentence of 330 months in prison and placed Fritcher on supervised release for life when he finishes his prison sentence. There is no parole in the federal criminal justice system.

"Protecting vulnerable victims is one of the highest priorities in my office. In Utah, we cannot, and will not, tolerate the exploitation of children. The significant sentence imposed in this case will help protect children in Utah communities from a dangerous predator," U.S. Attorney John W. Huber said Friday in a news release.

As a part of a plea agreement, Fritcher admitted that between about July 1, 2015, and April 2016, he shared, through a file sharing program, images and videos of child pornography. The images included depictions of prepubescent and minor children posing in various stages of undress and in sexually explicit poses. He further stipulated that the images also depicted the sexual abuse of minor children.

Fritcher had more than 600 images and videos in his possession, including pictures of two girls taken by Fritcher.

Fritcher has two previous state convictions for attempted sex abuse of a child. According to the indictment filed in the case, the pictures of the two minors were taken subsequent to his convictions in state court.

Fritcher was arrested in Utah by federal authorities May 2016, following an investigation conducted by special agents of Homeland Security Investigations in Salt Lake City and Philadelphia working in collaboration with an investigator with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Utah agent is a member of the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI's Child Enticement Task Force.

"HSI takes very seriously our responsibility to rescue victims of child pornography, including the two victims in this case who no longer have to endure this abuse," said John Eisert, Acting Special Special Agent in Charge of HSI Denver. "Donald Fritcher's prison sentence sends

a clear message to criminals like him who abuse our children: we will find you and we will bring you to justice."

Fritcher was charged with production of child pornography and possession of child pornography in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in May 2016. He pleaded guilty to a felony information in February 2017 charging him with distribution of child pornography.