Man sentenced to 100 years in prison in one of the largest cases of child porn

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania -- A man has been sentenced to 100 years in prison for what authorities say was the largest collection of child pornography state law enforcement officials have seen.

Lawrence Jamieson, 59, was sentenced Monday in federal court after pleading guilty in September 2017 to sex crimes and child pornography charges.

Authorities say Jamieson had more than 14.4 million images and videos of children and infants being sexually abused.

Jamieson's stash of images collected over 15 years was discovered when he was arrested on charges after he and an accomplice tried to manipulate an underage girl with learning disabilities into performing sex acts on both men. Prosecutors say they filmed and distributed footage of those acts.

Prosecutors called Jamieson's collection "some of the most demented images imaginable."

Back in August of 2016, the Chester County District Attorney's Office and Willistown Township Police Department announced the arrests of Jamieson and John Brown.

The arrests came after police received a report about child sexual abuse.

Police obtained a search warrant for Jamieson's home. They recovered approximately 1,000 DVDs, thumb drives, and other electronic storage devices containing thousands of images and videos allegedly depict naked children, sexually explicit images of children, and adults sexually assaulting children.

Police say one of the recovered images displayed the name of a girl and a local high school.

The police then conducted an interview with the girl and others, as well as reviewed the electronic devices.

As a result, officials say they discovered the full scope of the operations of the suspects.

"This case shows the full developmental cycle of child predators. They start with possession of child pornography. They next move to creating and distributing child pornography. Finally, they take the ultimate step to sexually assaulting and even trafficking children. Each act is a link in the chain of misery that is child sexual abuse," Chester County District Attorney Hogan said in a statement.

According to officials, Jamieson, who ran a construction company, introduced the victim to Brown, who worked for a tire company in 2015.

The alleged victim was 15 years old at the time.

Officials say Jamieson and Brown told the victim that Brown was a 17-year-old cyber school student. Brown was 23 years old at the time.

They say Brown changed his appearance to look younger.

Officials say Brown entered into a sexual relationship with the victim. Jamieson and Brown then both began engaging in sexual activity with the victim.

They allegedly took pictures and videos of this sexual activity, stored them on the electronic devices, and exchanged them via text messages and email.

"Even after decades of serving in law enforcement, the scope and nature of these crimes are staggering. I have never seen as large a trove of child pornography in the history of Chester County, and the rest of the conduct is unspeakable. I do not know what kind of a depraved mind could possibly enjoy this sickening abuse of innocent children," Police Chief John Narcise said in a statement.

The alleged incidents took place at multiple locations in Pennsylvania between 2015 and July 2016.

"Evil exists, even in places we least expect it. We are concerned that there may be other victims out there. Anybody with information about either Lawrence Jamieson or John Brown should contact the Willistown Township Police Department immediately," District Attorney Hogan said in a statement.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this post.