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A Lexington man was who pleaded guilty to child porn charges earlier this year was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison.

David Martin Allen, 37, was convicted for production and possession of child pornography.

“Mr. Allen is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Assistant United States Attorney Hydee Hawkins. “The ones that will truly suffer will be those that Mr. Allen victimized. The families of the victims consider what happened a lifetime sentence for them.”

Allen admitted that authorities conducted a full forensic examination of his computer and discovered between 40,000 and 50,000 images (photographs) and 2,349 videos of child pornography.

During a search of Allen’s home in June 2008, he claimed that he received several of his child pornography images from his former roommate Joseph Leitner. Leitner was sentenced to 188 months in October for receiving child pornography and agreed to forfeit his home in the Chevy Chase Subdivision as part of the plea agreement.

According to statements in court, approximately 40 of Allen’s child pornography images, depicting the sexual abuse of children, were produced by Allen. Some of the photographs were taken inside of Allen’s vehicle. Further examination of those photographs enabled law enforcement to identify one of the victims as a seven-year-old child. Another victim shown in Allen’s 40 images was identified by Allen as a five-year-old child.

After these photographs were discovered, a subsequent federal search warrant was obtained to search Allen’s 1998 Chevrolet Blazer and his residence. During the search, officers seized various items including clothing, bedding, and a watch, all of which matched the items that appeared in the photographs of the two children.

In the course of his guilty plea in September, Allen admitted that on December 5, 2005, he responded to an advertisement in a Yahoo group posted by an undercover United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) inspector for movies about young little boys losing their innocence. Allen first sent the undercover inspector an e-mail that stated his interest in some of the videos and then money as payment for the videos.