Peter Schoen - Receives 6 years for Child Pornography

A Spokane man who admitted buying and downloading thousands of sexually explicit images of children has been sentenced to six years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Edward Shea handed down the sentence Thursday to 44-year-old Peter Schoen, a former door company manager. Schoen pleaded guilty in October to one count of receipt of child pornography.

Schoen was arrested in September 2006 in a nationwide investigation that resulted in about 125 arrests of users who paid about $80 monthly to an Orlando, Fla., Internet site to view illegal child pornography.

When released from prison, Schoen will be under five years of court supervision and be required to register as a sex offender.